Sari Sumdac, Technorganic Recruit
by FictionFan1024
Summary: This story follows the end of "Sari Beyond Endgame." Sari is now a Cybertronian citizen, and a member of Optimus Prime's team. She must grow and learn how to become a fully-functioning although extremely gifted team member as a technorganic among a group of seasoned Autobots.
1. Chapter 1

**This story follows the end of "Sari Beyond Endgame." Sari is now a Cybertronian citizen, and a member of Optimus Prime's team. She must grow and learn how to become a fully-functioning (although extremely gifted) team member as a technorganic among a group of seasoned Autobots. **

**One major problem exists: there is a Decepticon posse led by Swindle, bent on abducting Sari, in order to steal and market her much-valued mods. Until she becomes better at defending herself, Optimus' team are not only Sari's comrades-in-arms, they're also her protectors.**

**Assisting her in her development is Jazz, who has taken over her cyber-ninja training from Prowl, and her father, who is providing the much-needed human side of her growth.**

It's been one month since Optimus returned from Cybertron. The Autobot High Council had approved the transfer of Jazz to Optimus Prime's team. After the capture of Megatron, Jazz had been reassigned back to Sentinel Prime's team, and this new transfer was done despite the loud protestations of Sentinel.

"You want to do WHAT?" objected Sentinel Prime during a special encrypted telecommunication with the Council. "I just got my top Lieutenant back. I have him exactly where I need him. He's doing the job I trained him to do, and now you're taking him away from me – again. For what purpose, may I ask?"

"Jazz is to report to Earth immediately, to begin training the technorganic Sari Sumdac in the cyber-ninja arts. He will resume the training that she had been receiving from the cyber-ninja Prowl," said Perceptor.

"Well, that's just great," said Sentinel. "And I suppose he will be reporting to that washout Optimus Prime?"

"Yes, Sentinel," said Ultra Magnus. "Optimus Prime is to be in charge of the team on Earth. The technorganic's mods are coming on faster than anticipated, and it is the opinion of the Council that she will benefit from Jazz' tutoring of the cyber-ninja arts as a way to fully master her abilities."

"Well, it will take me a good orbital cycle to get to earth. At least I will have Jazz until then," said Sentinel.

"Negative," said Perceptor. "You will return to Cybertron immediately, and Jazz will use the space bridge to transport to Earth."

Sentinel Prime could only grind his mouthplate; Jazz concealed his amusement. As incredibly aggravating as it was to Sentinel to have the Council transfer one of his Elite Guard deputies to that "washout" Optimus, it was a great relief to Jazz, who was chafing under his egotistical leadership style.

The transfer to Earth did not occur immediately, since Sentinel's ship was out on maneuvers. As soon as it returned to Cybertron, Jazz wasted no time and took the next space bridge for Earth. He arrived two weeks after Optimus.

When not providing cyber-ninja training to Sari, Jazz worked with Arcee in the Ark-32 monitoring the skies for the imminent arrival of the Decepticons. Optimus was glad for the additional team member, since Swindle was a master arms dealer and could arrive equipped with any number of illegal weapons in his effort to abduct Sari. The more seasoned fighters he had with him when the time came, the better.

"So, how is Sari doing with the training, Jazz?" asked Optimus.

"Optimus, man, her cyber-ninja potentials are off the charts. And Ratchet tells me her mods go far beyond anything most Autobots have, much less technorganics. It's her inner peace that holds everything together. There's something in her Human-Cybertron makeup that does it. She told me about Prowl talking to her in the AE-35. That WAS Prowl, man, of that I have no doubt. I told her such, and it was a great relief to her."

"But dig it, Optimus: only advanced cyber-ninja practitioners can speak to one another from inside the Well of AllSparks to our side – you get my drift?"

"Do you think Sari should move back to Cybertron?" Optimus asked.

"Only if her father were to move with her, which I doubt he could do" said Jazz. "Her father is a key piece of the puzzle – I sense it."

"Yes, I've noticed that as well," said Optimus. "With humans apparently, the parent/child relationship is something very special, and without that, I don't think Sari would do well at all."

"So what are your recommendations, Jazz?"

"First of all, it's good that we continue her training here and now instead of waiting six months," said Jazz. "You have that abandoned building y'all used for your base of operations back in Detroit? Prowl had an obstacle course; we can use that. I also want to use Prowl's room. Hopefully his tree is doing well – I think it would be good for Sari to tend Prowl's tree as a link to him."

"Sounds good," said Optimus. "When you get back to Sumdac Towers, discuss it with the Professor. It's his building – although believe it or not, sometimes I'm not sure he knows it."

That afternoon, Sari and her Dad were enjoying their weekly lunch at Burger Bot. It was a special father-daughter "date" they made up for each other, to get away from all the classroom, cyber-ninja training, business affairs grind.

"So, Sari," asked Isaac, "How are things going with Jazz?"

Sari put down her vanilla shake. "He's really good, Dad. Not quite like Prowl, but he's got a cool, laid-back way about him. At first, he wanted to see where I left my training off with Prowl. Now he wants to pick up from there and start taking me up to new levels."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Well," said Sari, motioning with a french fry. "There's processor-over-matter, which I used in the AE-35, but Jazz said the level I used was very basic." Sari popped the french fry in her mouth, took another sip of her shake, then remembered something. She put the shake down. "Oh, Dad! Jazz said that it WAS Prowl that spoke to me. Isn't that something?"

"It was Prowl? Remarkable, Sari!"

"Yes! And that with proper training I can reach much higher levels - he calls it 'p-o-m', and do much more with it, like, remember how Prowl was able to release the stasis cuffs?"

"Ah yes, I remember when that happened. It was when I was a captive of Megatron. He was humming. Bumblebee kept complaining about the humming. Then eventually, the cuffs just popped off his servos," said Isaac.

"Right. That level's very advanced. I couldn't do that yet," said Sari. And there are other advanced techniques, like Metallikato and Circuit-Su. Metallikato is an ancient martial art. With Circuit-Su, you can actually harness your spark energy as a physical attack."

"Jazz also told me about another cyber-ninja art, called Crystalocution, in which opponents are defeated by striking their metal fracture points. That one sounds interesting!" She said.

Sari munched on her burger. "Mmmfh, good burger!"

"I imagine mastering those arts take a long time, Sari," said Isaac.

"These techniques can take many years, but Jazz has high expectations for me," she said. "So, how are things at the office?"

"Oh, the usual, my dear," chuckled her Dad. "The board has complaints, the factories always want to do more, and my scientists always need more money. It's always fun, you know how it goes." He smiled. "You sure you don't want that Vice President of Operations position?" He winked.

"Ha! No thanks, Dad. Optimus says he needs me. As soon as I'm ready, he says my abilities will be put to good use in defense of both Earth and Cybertron."

"Oh, of that, I have NO doubt whatsoever, my Sari!" Isaac looked around and lowered his voice. "The sensors and protection devices are running at full capacity. And when we get back inside I have something I want to show you."

After lunch, Sari and her Dad headed back to Sumdac Tower. They took the elevator to the top floor where Isaac had his control center. "This is what I wanted to show you," he said. "Arcee and I have been working on a quantum cryptographic encryption protocol that will allow us to communicate between here and the Arc-32 without anyone eavesdropping. We're about to try it for the first time. Would you like to see?"

"Quantum…what? Sure, whatever! I've been hoping to be able to talk to everyone over there. Fire it up!"

Isaac turned on the equipment. "It takes a few seconds for the handshaking to occur." Sari wasn't sure what that meant, but followed along.

The controls indicated connection. "This is 3A6838F0DDA1F51F, do you read?" he said. Sari raised an eyebrow. "Must be part of the hand shaking," she thought.

"I read you 3A6838F0DDA1F51F." Came the reply. "This is 14BAB1CAF5483F1E. Acknowledge."

"Acknowledged. Hello, Arcee," said Isaac, "I have Sari here with me. Successful test."

"Greetings, Isaac and Sari! Long time, no see." Said Arcee. "All is well here on the Ark-32. Isaac, Jazz wants to meet you and Sari tomorrow at the old abandoned factory where the Autobots had their base of operations. Can that be arranged?"

"Certainly, Arcee. We can be there tomorrow at 9:00am."

"Hey, Arcee, is Bumblebee there?" asked Sari.

"Right here, Sar!" Piped up Bee. "What's been going on?"

"Hey, miss you, Bee! Be glad to see you sometime. Maybe I can get a visit back in the Ark-32! That trip through the water was cool!"

"We'll see what can be arranged, Sari," said Arcee. "In the meantime, for now, we'll want to keep these communications short and official. Will talk later. Ark-32 out."

"Sumdac Tower out." Said Isaac.

"Why do they want to keep the communication short?" asked Sari.

"Because as good as my encryption protocol may be, I don't want to give the Deceptislimes the chance that they might grab enough data to try to crack it." Said her father. "We'll communicate only as much as is needed."

"Bummer!" said Sari.

The next morning, Sari and Isaac met Jazz at the abandoned factory. "Let's go see Prowl's tree, Sari," said Jazz.

The tree was intact, but in bad shape. Someone had broken in to the factory and broken several branches and ripped many leaves. "Oh, Prowl, your tree!" cried Sari. They had also scrawled graffiti on the walls and ripped his mats. "How can they do this?" She asked in anger. "Why isn't there better security on this building!?"

"It's an abandoned building, Sari. When the Autobots left, there was no one to guard it," said Isaac.

"This is not something that cannot be repaired, Sari," said Jazz. "Come here to the tree." He motioned to Sari to put her hand on the trunk. "What do you feel?"

Sari placed her hand on the bark. She grimaced and looked at Jazz. "I feel pain," she said. "But I feel life."

"Then," he said, "Let us work on restoring health."

"Professor, can your company increase security to this building, to keep vagrants out and prevent vandalism? And bring in a tree expert to nourish this tree to heal it."

"Yes, yes, right away." Isaac got on his phone and called his secretary to make the arrangements.

"Sari, you and I will work on this room." Said Jazz. "Together, we will bring it back to the way it was when Prowl was here."

"Yes, I want to do that," she said. They set about working on Prowl's room. It was the first step in her cyber-ninja training.

**Thus ends chapter 1. Jazz is glad to be done with Sentinel Prime, and to have been given the opportunity to be sensei to a young new cyber-ninja, especially one as promising as Sari. There are Decepticons on the way, however, and things on Earth are about to become very complex indeed! Thanks for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Takes place immediately after Chapter 1. Sari and Jazz are working on Prowl's room, trying to remove the mess the vandals had left. Isaac's working on getting someone to take care of Prowl's tree and securing the building.**

"Sari, my secretary just called." Said her Dad. "Captain Fanzone's meeting me at Sumdac Tower, and then we will come back here with some of his officers to patrol the surrounding area. He says there have been other break-ins reported, and they've been planning to keep an eye out around here for a while."

"OK, Dad," said Sari. "We'll keep working."

Jazz and Sari continued their work on Prowl's room. Jazz applied cleanser to the graffiti, while Sari picked up the garbage and threw it into the dumpster.

After an hour or so, they took a break. The room started looking a little better. "Sari, I need to go up to the roof. I want to check on the Autobot transmission equipment to see if it's still intact." Said Jazz. "Do you want to come up with me?"

"No, I'd rather stay here and keep cleaning. Thanks, though," said Sari. Jazz left for the roof.

Sari sighed. "What a lot of work." She then turned to look at the tree again. "Oh, Prowl, how can people do such terrible, destructive things? Is it right to hate them?"

A voice spoke to her: "Sari, hate the evil, not the person." The thought made her stop in her tracks. She gazed at his tree again. "You're right, you're right, I know," she said, as she turned back to cleaning.

Her activities were interrupted about 20 minutes later by noises coming from the hallway. "Jazz, is that you?" She asked.

"Well, well, wadd'a we got here?" said a strange voice from the doorway. "Hey, guys, who called room service?"

Sari looked to see a gang walking into Prowl's room! "Who are you? What do you want?" she demanded.

"Who are WE?" the leader laughed. "Who are YOU! This is our pad! What's a matter girlie? Daddy throw you outta the house?" The others laughed.

"Are you the ones who damaged Prowl's tree?" demanded Sari.

"Prowl? Who the heck is he, your boyfriend?" Said the leader. "Yeah, so what? I'm a tree surgeon, ain't I guys?" All laughed.

"So, I took a couple'a branches. I needed them to cook my dinner! And I didn't like those leaves gettin' in my way!" He walked over to the tree, jumped up and pulled some more down.

"Stop it!" Sari yelled.

He threw the leaves in Sari's face. "What ya gonna do about it, huh?" The gang started walking around her.

"Hey, Spike, why don'cha show the little lady our appreciation for cleanin' up the place?" said the leader. Spike grabbed Sari's right shoulder from behind. "Hey, cutie, give us a kiss!"

"Get your hand off of me!" Yelled Sari.

"You gonna make me, girlie?" Said Spike. He pulled her toward him.

Sari grabbed Spike's hand with her left, and his crotch with her right, and threw him over her head onto the floor in front of the group. Spike groaned, tried to get up, and collapsed. "I said, get your hand off of me!"

Two others lunged at her, attempting to grab her arms from behind, but sensing their moves, Sari elbowed one in the mouth, breaking his teeth; the other received a kick in the stomach throwing him back, doubled over in pain.

"Oh, so you know some martial arts, eh?" said the leader. "Well, try THIS one on for size!" He took out a huge bowie knife and charged at Sari.

Using her Autobot speed, Sari stepped aside at the last second, avoiding the knife. With a blur, she grabbed the wrist holding the knife and squeezed it, breaking the bones. He screamed in pain. Keeping her hold on the wrist, she grabbed his belt buckle, picked him up, and threw him against the wall with enough force to knock him out.

"This chick's freaky strong!" said the remaining gang members, and started to flee. Just then, Isaac appeared with Captain Fanzone and his policemen. They grabbed the remaining gang members before they could get away. Jazz returned from the roof.

"What's going on here?" Asked Fanzone.

"These are the ones who broke into your building, Dad," said Sari. And the one over there," pointing at the leader, "is the one who damaged Prowl's tree."

"I know him!" said Fanzone. "He's Celso Baca. He's got a rap sheet a mile long. We've been looking for him for quite some time. And these dirt bags are the rest of his gang. Round 'em up, boys." Fanzone and his men took the gang away.

"Sari! Are you all right?" Said Isaac.

"I'm OK, Dad, thanks!" she said. "In a way, I'm glad I learned who it was who did all this."

"Professor, come outside with me," said Fanzone. "This is your property, so I'll need a statement from you." He and Isaac went outside. Sari and Jazz remained behind in Prowl's room. The two sat down on the floor facing each other.

"Sari, tell me what happened," said Jazz.

"After you went to the roof, I kept cleaning. Then, I looked again at what the vandals had done to Prowl's tree, and I felt angry. I spoke to Prowl. I said 'How can people do such terrible, destructive things! Should I hate them?' But something spoke to my spark chamber; it said, 'Hate the evil, not the person'".

"Do you agree?" asked Jazz.

"Yes, yes I do," said Sari. "I think, if we hate the person who does evil, then haven't we ourselves become infected with evil?"

Jazz nodded. "Sari, talk about what happened with the gang members."

"They came in afterwards. The leader admitted to damaging the tree. He said he broke the branches off for wood to cook his food. He pulled the leaves off for fun," she said. Tears came, and Sari lowered her face.

"Did they attack you?"

"Yes," she answered.

"But, to defend yourself, it doesn't appear that you used any of your mods on these men." Said Jazz.

"I used my speed and strength, but nothing more," she answered.

"And why is that?" asked Jazz.

"Because," said Sari. "To have done more to them would have been excessive, and then I would have been as evil and full of hate as Megatron."

"Good, Sari. Good," said Jazz. "You have done very well. Prowl would be pleased." Sari smiled.

Captain Fanzone and Isaac came back inside. "Well, I've got THAT group squared away," said Fanzone. "Professor, unless you've got anything else for me, my men and I are going to patrol the area. I strongly suggest you get some fencing set up around here and some private security."

"I'm taking care of it right away," said Isaac. Fanzone and his men left.

Just then, a tree service truck pulled up. Two men came inside and Isaac had them start working on Prowl's tree. "It doesn't look too bad, Mr. Sumdac," said the older man. "Just needs some TLC. We'll put in some good fertilizer and patch up those broken spots. I think she'll start looking much better in a couple weeks."

"I'm very glad to hear that," said Isaac. He looked over at Sari, then told the man, "That tree is very important to me. I want you to spare no expense!"

"Don't you worry, Mr. Sumdac," he said. "We'll take good care of her."

"Thanks, Dad," said Sari. Isaac put his arm around his daughter.

Right behind the tree service truck came a security service. "Mr. Sumdac?" asked the service representative. "Yes?" said Isaac. "Let's walk around the perimeter, sir, and we'll see where to set up the fencing and security cameras." The two took off outside.

Sari and Jazz looked at the progress happening around them. "Things are going to be all right, Jazz." She said. Jazz nodded.

At his next report to Optimus aboard the Ark-32, Jazz asked Ratchet to join them. "I think," said Jazz, "that it's time to re-enable Sari's mods that you turned off, Ratchet."

"Do you realize what you're saying?" Said Ratchet. "I had to turn them off because she was going into overload."

"Yes, but hear me out," said Jazz. "Sari's inner synchronization, in my opinion, is complete. Did Dataminer say that the mods she had after her upgrade were the ones she would have had at sixteen?"

"Yes," said Ratchet.

"Then she is WAY beyond sixteen, in my opinion," said Jazz. "I have been evaluating her, and she is ready."

Optimus thought for a moment. "What if we turned them on one at a time? We could gauge their effect better that way."

"I'm not opposed to that," said Ratchet.

"Nor I," said Jazz.

"Then it's agreed," said Optimus. "So which one first?"

"Well, Dataminer already gave her the jet skates," said Ratchet, "and she might be leery about getting the arm blades next, since those are the ones she used on Bumblebee."

"Then let her have the energy hammer," said Optimus. "Isn't she due back here for an examination, Ratchet?"

"Yes, I was about to mention that," he said.

"Alright. Then Jazz, why don't you bring her in? I understand she likes that underwater trip; she might have a more interesting time in your 'cool ride'" smiled Optimus.

"Works for me," said Jazz. "Should I tell her before the trip, or after?"

"Discuss it in advance with Sari and her father; he has a right to be involved," said Optimus, "although if the last trip was any indication, I suspect he'll be happy to let Sari return to the Ark-32 solo," chuckled Optimus.

**So Sari's going to get the mods she lost after her overload – at least, one at a time. She'll soon get the full complement of mods she would have had at sixteen, not to mention any others that might crop up from time to time! They ought to come in handy very soon! Thanks for reading.**


	3. Chapter 3

**After Jazz' meeting with Optimus and Ratchet, he left the Ark-32 and returned to Detroit. **

Jazz has returned to Sumdac Tower, and is meeting with Sari and her Dad. "I've discussed Sari's progress with Optimus and Ratchet, and we've decided that it's time for Sari to get back the mods that had been turned off after her overload."

"Jazz, are you sure?" asked Sari. "The last thing I want to do is go into another overload."

"Sari, the reason you went into overload is because you had the mods of a sixteen year-old Sari but the processor, the emotions, and the inner control of an eight year-old Sari." said Jazz. "One of the most important things the AllSpark has been doing since that time has been synchronizing your inner self with your outer self. Based on my observations and talking to the Autobots and your father, I have no doubt that has happened."

"However, just to be careful, Optimus suggested we do it one mod at a time. Ratchet will turn on your energy hammer first, and any others later."

"I like that better," she said.

"How will it be turned on?" asked Isaac.

"I will take Sari to the Ark-32, and Ratchet will take care of it," said Jazz. "She is due back in for an examination with him anyway."

"You mean, back through Lake Erie water?" Isaac eyes widened.

"Well, if you're not up to it, Professor, I can take her by myself," Jazz smiled.

"But she can't sit behind the wheel, Jazz - she's underage!" Isaac protested.

"Dig it, Professor, I have a holographic driver that I can project. Sari can sit in the passenger side."

"Cool - my own chauffeur!" Sari grinned.

The next day, Jazz and Sari took off in his "cool ride" car. "How you doin' Sari?" said Jazz from the radio.

"So far, so good, Jazz. Your driver's definitely as cool as your car!" said Sari, looking at the holographic driver, with his fine suit and French designer sunglasses.

About halfway to the Lake Erie "plunge" point, Sari asked Jazz to pull into a rest stop to take care of nature and stretch her legs. While there, she met a nice young family with several children. They were at a park table having a picnic. Sari stopped to chat.

Sari got back in the car with a puzzled look on her face. "What's with the expression, Sari?" he asked.

"Uh, Jazz, I don't quite know how to explain this, but they were Portuguese; I was talking with them in their native language!"

"Let me guess: you don't speak Portuguese?"

"Not until just now."

Jazz tested this out by speaking Cybertronian to Sari. She responded back in native Cybertronian. "It seems, Sari, that yet another mod of yours has turned on."

"So, what's this one then?" she asks.

"Obviously, a language mod of some kind. It remains to be seen how extensive it is, but if you're fluent in an Earth language and Cybertronian, then you can probably also speak thousands more."

"Cool! Guess I won't need that French tutor bot anymore!"

They approached the "plunge" point; a remote spot where no one would notice a car suddenly driving into the lake. "Here we go!" said Jazz.

"Whoo!" yelled Sari as they entered the water. This time, they went in during the day, so Sari was better able to see the underwater sights. "Jazz, these trips are awesome! Check out that school of fish - and that shipwreck down there!" Jazz enjoyed listening to Sari talk about her enthusiasm for experiences like this; it was a uniquely human phenomenon that an Autobot learns to appreciate.

They arrived on the Ark-32. "Hey, Bumblebee! How you doing?" said Sari in Cybertronian. Bumblebee did a double-take. "Uh, hi?" as she walked by. Bee looked at Bulkhead, "Did she just speak Cybertronian?" "Sounded like it," said Bulkhead.

In sick bay, Ratchet confirmed the new mod. "Well," says Ratchet, "guess we don't have to speak English around you anymore."

"OK, Sari, let's get the energy hammer turned back on," said Ratchet. Sari felt a tingling as Ratchet's equipment made the adjustments to her systems. "That's it. You can train on it with Jazz. I understand he's got Prowl's old training room back up and running well."

"Thanks, Ratchet," said Sari. "I'm learning a lot from Jazz."

"Well, I'm glad things are working out with you two, Sari," said Ratchet. "I'm getting more worried the closer those Deceptiscum get to Earth - especially as I think about whatever illegal weapons Swindle may have with him."

"What kinds of illegal weapons?" Sari asked.

"Oh, that slotting pigbot's got just about everything you can imagine!" said Ratchet. "There's the Andellorian Anti-Gravity Cannon; it's a powerful weapon that could possibly threaten the integrity of the planet upon which it's used. We originally developed it on Cybertron, but it proved too unstable. At its highest settings, it can cause objects to fly off into space."

"Yikes!" said Sari.

"Don't know if he'd be dumb enough to try to use it, though," said Ratchet. "We could easily overpower him and get it off his hands, since he can only use it against one bot at a time. He's got other things, but you know me Sari, I worry too much. We've got a good, experienced team here, and Optimus is a smart leader. He's defeated Swindle before, you know - he'll do it again," said Ratchet.

After her time in sick bay, Sari stopped by to see Bumblebee. "So Sar," said Bumblebee, "What's up with you suddenly talking Cybertronian? Your Dad find a Cybertronian tutor bot or something?" he joked.

"Nah, it just kicked in all of a sudden," she said. "Another mod out of the blue."

"Man, you're just full of mods, Sari! You got a lottery mod in there somewhere?" Bee asked. "I could use a couple extra bucks!" he joked.

"Ha! If I find one, I'll let you know!" Sari laughed. "I miss hanging with you, Bee."

"Yeah, me too, but don't worry, once we get rid of these Decepticons, we'll have lots of time together!" He said. "So, how's things going with Jazz?"

"Oh, we're doing great! I'm going to start training on Prowl's assembly line."

"That will be good," said Bumblebee. "We can use all your ninja battle moves!" Bee pretended to do some cyber-ninja chops. "Heee ya! Oooo, hya hya!" Sari held her stomach and laughed so hard she almost fell off her chair.

The deck they were on started to shake. In walked Bulkhead. "Hey, Sari! How you doin'!" he said, speaking to her in English.

"I'm doing great, Bulkhead," Sari replied, in Cybertronian.

"Huh? Oh yeah! You can talk my language now! Nice, Sari!" Said Bulkhead, still speaking in English.

"What that means, big guy, is you can talk to her in Cybertronian," said Bumblebee.

"Oh, yeah! Pretty cool!" Bulkhead thought for a moment, then putting his servo to his mouthplate he said: "Ahem...Hel-lo, Sar-ri! Nice..to..see..you!" In Cybertronian.

Sari giggled. "Nice to see you too, Bulkhead! You can talk normally to me. I can keep up!" She smiled.

She next visited with Arcee. "How are you doing, Sari?" she said. "We've been thinking of you down here."

Sari told her about her experience in Prowl's room with the gang. "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about that attack! How awful! But you did a terrific job defending yourself – good for you!"

"Yes, Captain Fanzone was able to round up the whole gang. He had been looking for them for a long time. And my Dad was able to find some tree experts to look at Prowl's tree."

"And so, the experts said Prowl's tree will heal?"

"Yes, they said in a couple weeks, it will be looking much better," she told Arcee.

"Well, Prowl would be very proud of you taking care of his tree. It meant a great deal to him. When you and Jazz are done, that room will be a great place for you to do your meditations, and connect with Prowl," Arcee said.

Later, Sari had a status meeting with Optimus. "So, Sari, Jazz tells me you are doing well with your training. Glad to hear it. And how are things going with the tutor bots?"

"Very well, sir!" she said. The tutor bots have brought me up to the 12th grade level. My Dad's filed the paperwork to let me take the GED examination. That would allow me to begin college coursework."

"Good, Sari, good. And keep up the good work with the cyber-ninja training. I've asked Jazz to begin drilling you on battle techniques. We may be calling on you when the Decepticons get here," said Optimus. "I think your orbs and energy hammer can prove very useful to us in battle."

"Will do my very best, Optimus!" Sari smiled.

"Of that Sari, I have no doubt! Before you go though," he said in ending, "I believe the crew has a little something planned in your honor," Optimus motioned behind her.

Sari turned around, to see Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Arcee, Jazz and Ratchet with party hats on and noise makers. Jazz had hidden a cake and party favors in his trunk. The cake said "Congratulations, Sari!"

"We heard you've been doing a bang-up job with your training and with the tutor bots, so we wanted to throw you a bot party," said Bumblebee.

"Aw, you guys, thanks!" said Sari, beaming. Everyone proceeded to have a great time!

After the party, Sari and Jazz headed back to Detroit. "Thanks for bringing the cake and party stuff Jazz," Sari said.

"My pleasure, Sari," Jazz replied, "What does your Earth proverb say? 'All work and no play make Jack a dull boy'".

"Or Sari a dull girl," she chuckled.

"Now, let me give you a heads-up before we get back to Detroit," said Jazz. "I've modified Prowl's assembly line training room to match up to your abilities. Meaning," he added, "to stretch you beyond yourself. We need to get you really trained. Look to be challenged hard, OK?"

"Yes, Sensei," said Sari. Sari called Jazz "Sensei" whenever he was providing her with cyber-ninja training. They both agreed it was her way to show respect to her master.

"Also, Optimus wants us to begin working on battle techniques. And finally, I will drill you on switching quickly from human mode to robot mode. Autobots are more vulnerable in our alt mode, and we have to be able to transform in a flash to fire a weapon. The same is true for you."

**When they get back, Sari's about to be stretched! She'll need to be, because Optimus believes that the time has come for her to be less of a Sari who the Autobots must defend against the Decepticons, and more of a Sari who fights side-by-side with the Autobots against the Decepticons – something Swindle may not be expecting! Thanks for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Takes place shortly after Sari and Jazz return to Detroit. Sari's due for some intense Autobot training!**

After Sari and Jazz arrived back at Sumdac Tower, they made plans to begin her advanced cyber-ninja training the next day. Her father's security contractors had completed the setup around the Autobot's compound, complete with 24/7 security bots and CCTV cameras. Good, strong fencing now surrounded the perimeter.

Prowl's tree was starting to recover. The scars where the branches had been broken off were carefully patched, and Sari could see new leaves budding on the remaining branches. She became friends with the tree experts, Sam and Mr. Carlin, the owner of the company. Sam was Mr. Carlin's son, and Sari learned Mr. Carlin had been in the landscaping business for over 35 years. Sari told them how Prowl used to lovingly tend his tree.

"Prowl sounds like he was a really nice Autobot, Sari," said Sam while carrying equipment back to the truck. "My Dad would have liked to have known him." He tied down the trimmer and turned back to Sari. "He has the most incredible green thumb, you know. If there's anyone who can resuscitate something that grows out of the ground, it's him. He's loved trees and plants his whole life. He taught me everything I know about landscaping."

"You and your Dad are doing a terrific job, Sam, thanks so much," said Sari.

"It's our pleasure, Sari. He's hoping to retire soon and turn the business over to me."

"What's he going to do after he retires?" Sari asked.

"Oh, Sari, you should see his garden! It's the envy of the neighborhood!" Sam smiled. "I suppose he'll keep himself quite busy there – although I hope he'll continue to offer me his business advice," he winked.

"Hey, Sam!" Mr. Carlin called from Prowl's room. "Can you bring in the liquid fertilizer please?"

"OK, Dad! Well, back to work Sari," said Sam. See you later!"

Jazz' customizations in the training room included the following equipment – some that Prowl had already modified, some that Jazz had changed for Sari's new abilities:

Laser scanners: These were originally designed by Isaac's engineers to scan the items on the conveyor belt, and the data was then input to the computer that guided the particular manufacturing system. With the Autobot modifications, it continually scanned the trainee and the computer guided the system's attacks.

Buzz saws: Originally designed to cut wood for packaging. Now used in obstacle training. Swung toward the trainee from various side locations, or came swooping down from above.

Crushers: Were originally used in the demolition department to disassemble decommissioned equipment. These were enormous, heavy blocks repeatedly slamming into each other, either horizontally, or vertically. There were four pairs of these in a series horizontal-vertical-horizontal-vertical with a narrow "neutral zone" in between. The objective was to time one's run through, braking in the neutral zone, then time the run through the next, and so on, without getting crushed!

Flame Throwers: Original purpose was to temper steel components. Now they've been modified to throw a ribbon of fire across the pathway just as the trainee crosses a point in the course. Objective is to go over, under, around, or if more than one, in between the ribbons.

Robotic Arms: Original purpose was to reach out and pick up items from the conveyor belt. Modified to come out suddenly and grab the trainee.

Jazz has added a new feature. The factory had pneumatic delivery tubes that were designed to ferry containers from one part of the factory to another. He modified it to shoot slag at the trainee from multiple points along the obstacle course. Depending on the angle and height of the projectile, Sari could use either an orb to vaporize the slag or her energy hammer to smash it.

"Sari, are you ready?" asked Jazz.

"Yes, Sensei," Sari switched to robot mode.

"Now, this first time through, I will time you. Each successive effort we will work at increasing your speed. Go!"

Sari took off. Immediately, the laser scanners detected her movement. It recorded her dimensions and speed, feeding the data into the computer. Immediately Buzz saws flew towards her on opposite sides at waist level. She had to jump to avoid them; however, as soon as she did this, a flame thrower shot its ribbon of fire across her path of movement. She immediately had to tuck her knees into her chest and forward roll herself into a ball to avoid the flames.

Back on her feet, she continued running the course. Dozens of robotic arms came out to grab her. Sari dodged left and right like a running back to avoid them, but once she got past that obstacle the pneumatic tubes began firing slags of metal parts at her. The first few came from above, so Sari used her orbs to disintegrate them. She kept running. Several pieces of slag came at her very fast very low, so she used her energy hammer on them before they could strike her legs.

Suddenly, the robotic arms and slag began coming at her simultaneously and at a faster rate! Sari had to think fast, dodging the arms, firing her orbs, and slamming with the energy hammer.

Another series of buzz saws and flame throwers began attacking her on the course, some coming at her knee, waist, and neck level. Others suddenly dropped down from above, and she had to run either to the left, to the right, to duck or to jump to avoid them. At any moment they would appear out of nowhere.

One time, an arm caught her leg and threw her up in the air. The computer used that advantage to aim a flame thrower at her. Before it could fire, however, she managed to use a ninja technique Prowl had taught her to spin and ricochet off another robotic arm to navigate back onto the course and continue running.

At the end came the final obstacle, the series of crushers. She paused, observed the timing of the blocks, and jumped in. She braked herself in the neutral zone, which was just large enough to hold her, then waited for the next blocks to open up, jumped in, and continued on until the end.

"Whew! That was a workout!" she thought.

"Not bad, Sari, not bad," said Jazz. Your timing was good, but I think you can do it faster. Let's go again.

"Yes, Sensei," she said. She went through the obstacle again.

And so went Sari's first day of advanced cyber-ninja training. Jazz took her through many, many reps of the obstacle course. Each time, it was slightly different, each time Jazz pushed her farther. It was extremely hard work, but through repeated drilling the various battle techniques began settling in to her processors.

At the end of the day, Jazz drove her back to Sumdac Tower, and she dragged herself up to her residence. "Sari, my goodness!" said her Dad when he laid eyes on her. "You look like you've been running from here to Cleveland and back!"

"I've been training with Jazz," she said wearily.

"Well, let me get you some dinner, then," he said.

"That sounds good, thanks, Dad," Sari said, as she slumped into the dining room chair.

Isaac went into the kitchen to prepare her a good hearty meal. When he came back, though, she had fallen asleep with her head face down on the table, her arms crisscrossed as a makeshift pillow. "Sari? Oh, you poor dear." He gently lifted her up and helped her to her room. "Quiet, Sparky!" Isaac whispered to her robo-dog, as he led her to bed and put a blanket over his daughter. "Good night, my Sari," he said, and kissed her on the forehead.

**Well, Jazz had warned her about the intensity of her training! All of it will be put to good use, though. Thanks for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Takes place two months after Sari had begun her advanced training with Jazz. She's back in the Ark-32, giving a status report to Optimus.**

"Well, Sari," said Optimus, "it's been two orbital cycles since you started your advanced training with Jazz. He tells me you've done very well mastering his obstacle course and learning how to use your battle mods. He also says you are showing great promise as a young Cyber-Ninja. Well done!"

"Thank you sir," Sari said.

"The Decepticons are due here soon. Are you ready to join us on the battlefield?"

"Ready to stand and fight with the Autobots, Optimus!" she said.

"Excellent, Sari - we will put your skill set to good use. I understand you're due for an examination with Ratchet. That will be all for now – keep up the good work." Sari took her leave of Optimus and proceeded to sick bay.

As she headed towards sick bay she met up with Bumblebee in the passageway. "Sar! What's up girl?" He said.

"Hey, Bee! Long time no see!"

"You ready to kick some Decepticon butt?"

"You know it, Bee! Will see you in a bit – headed over to Ratchet for my physical."

Bumblebee started singing and dancing the Olivia Newton John song while continuing down the aisle, "Let's get physical, physical, I wanna get physical…" Sari smiled, shook her head and rolled her optics.

She entered sick bay. "I'm here for my physical, Ratchet,"

"Come on in, Sari!" Ratchet called from another room. "Lay down on the exam table and I'll be right with you."

Sari jumped up on the exam table, lay down and let the green light shine on her body. Ratchet came in and turned on his equipment. The laser scanners passed over her several times, intersecting back and forth. As in Dataminer's office, several three-dimensional models of various parts of Sari's body appeared on large monitors, and a great deal of data began scrolling down others.

"Well, Sari, Jazz tells me you've become quite the cyber-ninja prodigy," said Ratchet, as he looked over the data. "I hear you've done well in your processor-over-matter techniques. Prowl would be very pleased with his former student."

"Thanks, Ratchet," Sari smiled as she sat up. "I'm no way near as advanced as Jazz. With concentration, I can manipulate small to medium parts of my surroundings. Of course, a Cyber-Ninja master like Jazz can physically handle very large objects. And a true Cyber-Ninja follows strict rules of engagement."

"Oh, I do understand, Sari," said Ratchet. "I always respected Prowl's Cyber-Ninja abilities – unlike your pal Bumblebee," he winked. Sari chuckled.

"And tell me about crystalocution," continued Ratchet. "Jazz says you're doing well in that also."

"If Jazz brings me a metal beam," she said, "I can look at it and locate its fracture point. But it takes me several seconds. Jazz is a crystalocution master – he can immediately strike the beam and break it in two. With training, he says I will eventually get to the point where I can use it in battle like him, to disable an opponent."

"Well, we lost a great master when Yoketron was killed," said Ratchet. He turned to Sari. "In all seriousness, Cybertron is badly in need of Cyber-Ninja Corps members. It may surprise you, but it makes this crusty old bot happy to see young recruits come along."

"I've witnessed the good things that Prowl did on earth, especially when he gave up his Spark to save the people of Detroit." Ratchet shot her a quick smile. "You make me proud and keep up the great work, kiddo."

"I will Ratchet. Thanks," said Sari.

"And I have some good news for you, young ninja," he said. "In addition to a clean bill of technorganic health, I am pleased to let you know that another one of your mods is coming online." Ratchet pointed to his readout. "According to this line right here, it appears you have a Skyboom Shield."

"I do? You mean, like the one Sentinel Prime has?" Sari asked.

"Just like it."

"Cool!"

"This one's come on all by itself," he said. "Now, as for your arm blades; are you ready to have them enabled?"

"Yes, I'm ready for them," she said.

"Then, let me un-block them for you. That will be the final mod that was turned off since your overload. As Dataminer said, you will have other mods that will likely come on as you get older. We shall see. I'll keep an eye on things and send reports to him as I am able. And of course, once we're done with these Deceptislimes, you can take the space bridge back to Cybertron and pay him a visit."

"Sounds good, Ratchet, thanks." Sari lay back down on the examination table, and Ratchet tapped a few keys on his equipment. "That'll do it for now. I think Swindle's in for a surprise when he sees you." Sari nodded.

"Two new battle mods, Sari – excellent. They'll be good for when we finally meet up with Swindle and his posse," said Jazz. "When we get back to Detroit, we'll drill on them. Let's see how that Skyboom Shield deflects against the weapons in the training room."

"Aw, how come Sari gets to have all the fun?" asked Bumblebee. "I say we all go train in Prowl's old room!"

"Actually, Bumblebee, that's not a bad idea," said Optimus. "Jazz, what do you think about us all coming back to the warehouse? Everyone here could use the opportunity to drill."

"Sounds like a cool idea, Optimus," he said. "Sari, you and I will go as an advance team to let Mayor Edsel know the Autobots are coming. We'll also ask him for permission to land the Ark-32."

"Good idea, Jazz. Sari, you can make good use of your diplomat mod talking to the mayor," said Optimus.

"Yes sir," said Sari.

Sari and Jazz left the Ark-32 shortly thereafter, and when they arrived in Detroit, made an appointment with Mayor Edsel. Sari did an excellent job explaining to him the Autobots' plans to return to the city and set up their headquarters in the old Autobot Earth Base once again. The Mayor was impressed with her poise and manner! He authorized a landing field for the Ark-32 near the airport. After the meeting, Jazz dropped Sari off at Sumdac Tower.

"Welcome home, my Sari!" said Isaac, as she entered the Sumdac's living quarters.

"Hi Dad!" said Sari as she gave him a hug. "I missed you! How are things here?"

"Very Well, Sari, very well! By the way, your dādī is here for a visit!" he said.

"Grandma?"

"She's in the living room. Why don't you go say hi?"

In the past, it was very difficult for Sari and her grandmother, since Dādī did not speak a word of English, and Sari only knew one or two words of Hindi. But, with her new language mod, things turned out very different this time!

"Dādī! How are you? It's me, Sari! It's so nice to see you! How was your flight?"

"Sari? Oh my goodness, look how grown you are! And what a beautiful young lady you've become! But when did you learn Hindi? Why, you speak it better than your father!"

Sari and her dādī had a wonderful visit. Isaac smiled, but at the same time was slightly befuddled by it all – he remembered Sari telling him about her language mod, but it was nevertheless an amazing thing to watch his daughter chatting away that evening so effortlessly in Hindi with his mother! "My Sari, you truly are a remarkable girl," he said to himself.

The next morning, Jazz and Sari went to the old factory to get things ready for the Autobots' return. Sumdac System's cleaning bots had come and cleaned up the area, and everything was swept up and all trash was hauled away.

Prowl's room was now complete. Isaac had purchased new flooring and mats, and Jazz and Sari had painted the walls to its former meditative colors. Thanks to Mr. Carlin's green thumb, the tree had fully recovered. "It's beautiful, Mr. Carlin, Sam, I can't thank you enough!" she told them.

"This room is so peaceful now, Sari," said Mr. Carlin. "I'm honored to have been able to play a part in bringing Prowl's room back."

"You guys are welcome in here any time," she said, giving them hugs.

After everyone left, Sari and Jazz sat on the mats and meditated. As Arcee predicted, Sari was able to connect with Prowl. "Prepare well, Sari. Don't give in to fear or anger. Victory will come from the most unexpected place."

That afternoon, Isaac's sensors detected the Decepticons landing on the moon. He sent an urgent message to Optimus. The Ark-32 ascended from the bottom of Lake Erie and headed for the Detroit airport. Training will have to wait.

**So things are about to get very exciting for our squad! However, I think the Decepticons are going to get a reception far beyond what they thought they might get – especially from a certain young technorganic Cyber-Ninja! Thanks for reading.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Optimus and his crew head to the moon to intercept the Decepticon ship. This will be Sari's first battle.**

Swindle's Quintesson Warship landed on the smooth crater floor of Tsiolkovsky over on the far side of the moon. "A nice little trade I negotiated with a Quintesson Imperial Magistrate down on his luck," explained Swindle. "Exactly how he managed to come in possession of a warship I never found out, since at the time I had to depart their lovely planet rather quickly. Funny thing is, I never heard back from him; imagine that."

Shortly after landing, Lugnut accidentally bumped into one of Slipstream's wings. "Hey! Watch where you're going, you big oafish tin can of clumsy!"

Lugnut growled back "I shall walk wherever I want, insufferable fembot! Once we have freed the glorious Megatron from that detestable Autobot prison, we shall deal with your impertinence!"

"Oh, blow it out your boron compressor, you sparking retro-rat!"

Swindle intercedes, "Now, now, let us stay focused on our mission, people! Once we have captured the technorganic and removed her mods, the off-market value we get from their sales will bring you more than enough to finance a successful jailbreak for Megatron." Swindle turned to Lugnut, "But you have to stay focused, Lugnut! Patience, my friend!"

Lugnut snarled at Swindle. "Aargh, you are no friend of mine, arms dealer! I only tolerate you until we can free my beloved master!"

"But of course, Svindle," said another voice, "surely you know, Lugnut's loyalty to Megatron is absolutely unwavering, and hass been so ever since his days in ze Grand Arena!" Blitzwing stepped into the light, turning to Slipstream. "And I would be more careful about insulting ze 'Kaon Krusher' if I were you, fembot..." Blitzwing's face changed into his maniacal personality "...because he is a five-eyed, no brained flying purple people eater with a P.O.K.E. that will kill you! Hahahahaha!"

Back on earth, Optimus landed the Ark-32 on the airstrip given to them for their use by Mayor Edsel. Jazz, Professor Sumdac and Sari boarded the ship for a meeting to discuss their next move.

"Our sensors tell us that the ship that landed is a Quintesson Warship," said Arcee. We detect the presence of four Decepticons on board."

"Well, that doesn't sound too bad," said Bumblebee. "Do we know which ones they are?"

"We don't have that ability," said Optimus. "But even though it's only four Decepticons, the ship itself is a concern. A Quintesson Warship is equipped with a single powerful Starbomb, which the Quintessons use to clear resistance on their initial approach. I have no doubt that the Decepticons would use it on Detroit, should they try to land here."

"We can't allow that to happen!" said Sari.

"No, not at all," said Optimus. "Which is why we must not give them the opportunity; we must confront them on the moon. Have they shown any indication that they are going to depart?"

"Not presently," said Arcee. "I would assume they are busy planning their strategy."

"Then we will give them a welcome they won't forget. Professor, you should return to Sumdac Tower and make sure your shield is operating at full capacity. Everyone else, prepare to leave immediately for the moon."

Sari and Isaac said farewell to each other. "Oh, Sari, I knew this day would come! Be brave, be strong, and fight well."

"I will fight, side by side with my Autobot comrades, and we will return Dad," she said with tears in her eyes, "With Optimus leading us, we will win!" A flash of blue, and Sari transformed into her robot mode. "See you soon!"

"Farewell, my Sari!" said Isaac, as the Ark-32 took off into the sky.

"Well, will you look at this?" said Slipstream. "A Cybertronian ship headed this way. Shall we say hello?"

"Optimus, they're powering up their Starbomb," said Arcee.

"Evasive maneuvers!" said Optimus. The Ark-32 swerved to avoid the Starbomb. "Bulkhead, overshock sonic battery! Let's disable that weapon."

Bulkhead fired the sonic battery directly at the Starbomb. It worked similarly to an EMP pulse, and as soon as it hit, the Starbomb went offline.

"What happened?" said Swindle, "why aren't you repeating fire?"

"The Starbomb stopped working, Swindle," she said sarcastically. "Maybe your precious trade just lost its warranty. Got any other weapons on this thing?"

While Swindle searched for other weapons, the Ark-32 landed east of the Tsiolkovsky crater rim, close enough to the Decepticon ship but not within line of sight.

"Lugnut! Slipstream! Blitzwing! Go see what they're up to and take them down! I will follow from the ground," said Swindle. The three Decepticons took off into the lunar sky.

"Here they come, Optimus!" Said Arcee. "It's Slipstream, Lugnut and Blitzwing flying toward us, with Swindle on the ground."

Optimus issued his commands: "Bumblebee, Sari, go use your weapons and take down Slipstream and Blitzwing. Bulkhead, you stay here and use the Ark-32 weapons to support Bumblebee and Sari. I will go after Lugnut. The rest of you go after Swindle." Optimus put on his flight wings and took off after Lugnut.

"OK Sar, let's do it!" said Bee. He transformed into his car and Sari jumped in. Bee's car raced out of the ship onto the lunar surface just as Slipstream's jet began firing on the Ark-32. Making a rapid left turn, he flew open his door and Sari jumped out, doing a shoulder-roll toward a nearby rock. She fired her orbs at Slipstream, blasting off one of her wings. She lost control and corkscrewing down, crashed into the crater rim. "You fragging little brat! I'll rip your servos off!" Slipstream shouted.

Bumblebee transformed back into bot mode just as Blitzwing began firing ice missiles at Optimus. Optimus evaded the missiles, and Bee combined his stingers into an EMP blast at Blitzwing. This weakened him enough for Bulkhead to fire a laser emitter at him head on, blinding his sensors. Blitzwing lost his bearings and crashed into a nearby outcropping.

"Incoming missiles!" shouted Optimus. Lugnut had launched dozens from his weapons bay and they were headed towards the Ark-32. "Sari! Take them out!"

Sari used her targeting mod and her orbs, just as she had done in her training exercise. Firing them like machine guns, her servos two yellow blurs, the missiles never had a chance to strike their target or explode; the pulsing blue globes disintegrated every one while still in the lunar sky.

Optimus flew at Lugnut and attacked him with his now military-powered ultra-axe, damaging his wing with sufficient force to bring him down. "Aaargh, you Autobots are annoying pests!" said Lugnut. "We may be pests to you, but we're just annoying enough to keep you in check, Lugnut!" responded Optimus.

Blitzwing had recovered from his crash and converted into his hothead persona. "You miserable Autobots! I'll melt you all!" Transforming into his tank, he charged at Jazz and Arcee, firing his superheater cannon. "Watch out!" shouted Ratchet. Arcee dodged the cannon, jumping behind a large rock. Jazz jumped above the superheater flame, twisting toward Blitzwing and throwing his laser nunchaku at him. He landed on the tank and using crystalocution, located a fracture point along the neck of the cannon and broke off the end. Arcee attacked with her laser swords, striking Blitzwing's tank treads, stopping him cold. Blitzwing transformed back into his bot form, but suddenly went into his maniacal persona. "You are all nothing but tiny little creampuffs! Hahahaha!" Jazz jumped up and over from behind, taking advantage of this unstable persona to slap stasis cuffs on him.

Meanwhile, Slipstream came running at Ratchet from the ground. She could no longer fly thanks to Sari, but she could fire her sonic pulse blasters. These she used against him, and he had to jump behind a large titanium rock. "A little help here!" yelled Ratchet. "Coming!" said Sari, as she rushed toward him on her jet skates.

"Sari! Watch out!" yelled Bumblebee. Swindle was chasing Sari, firing his scatter blaster from the top of his Humvee. "Oh, slag! She yelled, and had to do a quick ninja twirl to avoid the explosive buckshot. She managed to duck behind the rim of a small crater before they exploded around her.

Bumblebee fired an EMP pulse at Swindle, but he managed to change out of his Humvee form and turn on his Negatronic force field, which protected him from the EMP. "Sorry to disappoint you there, little yellow bot! I picked this baby up in an arms deal with the Vok of Nexus Zero. Nice people!"

Jazz and Arcee joined Bumblebee in battling Swindle, letting Sari continue on to help Ratchet fight Slipstream.

Optimus meanwhile, had his hands full dealing with a now moon-bound Lugnut. While the huge Decepticon thought this was an opportunity to engage in battle, it was actually Optimus' way of keeping him occupied while the others dealt with the remaining Decepticons. As such, he kept Lugnut busy with attacks, feints, quick strikes with his ultra-axe, and other misleading techniques. Lugnut was getting more and more frustrated with the missed punches. "Aaargh! You are nothing but a coward, Autobot! Are you truly that afraid of my strikes? Stand still!"

"Oh! So the little brat comes to help out the old fart!" said Slipstream, as Sari showed up. "Come a little closer, little one – let me show you my appreciation for taking out my wing!"

"Try and catch me, Decepticon!" said Sari, as she skated in rapid circles around her. Sari kept jumping above and below Slipstream's blasters, until, using an arm blade, she skated close enough to slice one of them off. "OW! I'll blast you back to…" Slipstream had been distracted enough by Sari's circle-skating to not notice Ratchet aiming his EMP generator at her. He blasted her and she fell to the ground, in stasis. Knocked out, Ratchet slapped cuffs on her.

"Well, this has been ever so much fun," said Swindle, "but I must be going."

"And just how do you plan on doing that?" asked Arcee. "We have you surrounded!"

"Do you? Or are you surrounding my image?" Swindle took out a little globe. "Portable solid holography – is this a great invention or what! Another great product from Quintesson! Love those guys! I could sell you one, but I doubt you Autobots have the credit! Oh well, ta-ta!" With that, the holograph dissolved, and Swindle's ship took off, leaving the Decepticons on the moon behind.

"Just like that, he abandons his crew," remarked Arcee.

"Not cool at all," said Jazz.

"Arcee!" said Optimus. "Get back on the ship and find out where Swindle is headed! The rest of you come help me with Lugnut!" Ratchet, Jazz, Bumblebee and Sari joined Optimus, while Arcee returned to the ship to trace Swindle's trajectory.

The five surrounded Lugnut. Their strategy was to distract him by attacking from all sides, until Ratchet could use his EMP generator to knock him out. Sari used her orbs and Optimus his grapple cannon to keep him off balance, while Jazz' threw his laser nunchakus on his servos every time he tried punching one of them. Bumblebee fired his stingers at his skidplate, which infuriated him even more. At the right moment, Ratchet fired his EMP generator straight at Lugnut's Spark chamber, knocking him down. Lugnut fell back with a huge thud onto the lunar surface, and Optimus slapped the oversize stasis cuffs on him.

"Optimus, Swindle's headed out of this solar system. I suspect he's going to search for other Decepticons foolish enough to join his posse," said Arcee.

"Well, that's good news," said Optimus. "Let's get these three onto the ship, and we'll bring them to Cyberton on the space bridge. Great job everyone."

The crew put Slipstream, Lugnut, and Blitzwing into Ark-32's brig, and headed back to earth. When they arrived, Bulkhead and Optimus escorted the three on the Sumdac Tower's space bridge to Cybertron.

Sari arrived home. "Hi, Dad!"

Isaac grabbed his daughter in a big hug. "Sari! Oh, my Sari, I'm so glad you're home safe and sound! I say this calls for a celebration! A trip to Burger Bot, wouldn't you say?"

"Dad, you read my mind!"

**Sari's first battle experience! I think she'll do just fine as a Technorganic recruit and a budding Cyber-Ninja! Thanks for reading.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Takes place at the end of Sari's Burger Bot celebration with her Dad. Bulkhead and Optimus have returned from Cybertron, and Swindle is gone from their Solar System, out trying to round up some other foolish privateers to join his posse.**

Isaac and Sari were just finishing up their celebratory dinner at Burger Bot when his pager started buzzing. "Incoming spaceship detected," it said. "Uh oh, Sari, let's get upstairs and see what this is all about."

They took the Sumdac Tower elevator up to his control room and checked the sensor readout. "Hmm, it appears to be a Cybertronian ship. Let me notify Arcee." The Decepticons are gone, so Isaac was able to hail the Ark-32 on a normal frequency.

"Good catch, Professor," said Arcee. "It's the Mirror-Manifold II, an Autobot Science vessel. Let me contact them so we can make arrangements for their arrival."

The Mirror-Manifold II was named in honor of an earlier science vessel, destroyed by the Decepticons for no other reason than that it made good target practice. Like its namesake, it is equipped with moderate shields and weaponry. On board are Wheeljack, Glyph, Sedan, and Tap-Out.

"Go meet with Mayor Edsel and request landing privileges for the Mirror-Manifold II," Optimus told Sari. "It's a much smaller ship than ours, so it could easily use the same airstrip."

"Yes, sir." She went to City Hall and explained the Autobot's plans. Mayor Edsel granted permission for the new Autobot ship to land next to the Ark-32.

After landing, Wheeljack, Glyph, Optimus, Isaac and Sari met in Optimus' briefing room aboard the Ark-32. Bulkhead took Sedan and Tap-Out around the Autobot Earth Base.

"The Ministry of Science has asked Glyph and me to come here to earth, to see if we can determine Sari Sumdac's origins," said Wheeljack. "By studying any artifacts remaining from the time she first arrived, we hope to piece together data on who it was that brought her protoform here."

"Well, the individuals who can best assist you with that investigation would be Professor Sumdac and Sari herself," said Optimus. "Professor, you first found Sari's protoform in your lab, is that correct?"

"Yes, it appeared suddenly in a pod, after a flash of light."

"Do you still have the pod, professor?" asked Glyph.

"Oh, most certainly," Isaac replied. "I kept everything in my private lab up in Sumdac Tower."

"Then let us adjourn, and with your permission, Professor, we can go visit your lab," said Wheeljack.

"Of course, you are most welcome," Isaac replied. Optimus adjourned the meeting and Wheeljack, Glyph, Isaac and Sari headed over to Sumdac Tower.

Meanwhile, Bulkhead was giving Tap-Out and Sedan a tour around the Autobot Earth Base. "So here's our base," said Bulkhead. "It was an abandoned factory that Professor Sumdac owned. He gave it to us."

"Nice and big!" said Tap-Out. They went inside.

"Do you clean much?" asked Sedan, looking at a particularly messy room.

"Oh, Uh, that's Bumblebee's room," said Bulkhead. "Here, let me show you what was originally Prowl's room. Now it's Jazz' room. He and Sari use it for Cyber-Ninja training."

They step into Jazz' room. He was meditating under Prowl's tree. "Excuse me, Jazz? We have visitors."

Jazz got up. "Hey, Tap-Out! Long time, no see, bro! And Sedan! Cool to see you again!"

"Nice room, Jazz – nice and tidy," said Sedan.

Jazz and Tap-Out, being Cyber-Ninjas, began to reminisce about Master Yoketron. "Maybe while you're here, you can give my gakusei Sari some boxing lessons?" said Jazz. "She is an amazing student, Tap-Out – you'll dig her fighting style, and I know she'll appreciate your smooth moves."

"I would be honored, Jazz," Tap-Out said. "Let's make plans."

"Well, those two are talking about old times at the Cyber-Ninja Dojo," said Bulkhead. "Let's go look at the rest of the place," he said to Sedan. They went ahead to other rooms.

Up at Sumdac Tower, Wheeljack, Glyph, Sari and Isaac took the elevator to the lab where Isaac stored Sari's pod. "Here it is, just as I had found it," he said. Wheeljack and Glyph examined the pod and exchange glances. "That is a stasis pod, Professor," he said, "except it is a very special kind. But before I make a determination, I would like additional evidence. Do you have anything else that might show us what happened on the day you discovered Sari's protoform?"

"No, I'm afraid there isn't anything else," Isaac said.

Wheeljack sighed. "That is a pity."

"What are those on the ceiling?" asked Glyph, pointing to the cameras.

"Oh, those are surveillance cameras. We use them for security purposes. They record every activity that…" He halted. "Oh, my!" Isaac ran down the hall to the security room, saying over and over again "Oh, my. Oh, my." Everyone followed after him.

When they caught up with him, he was at the control panel. "I knew there was a reason why I never got rid of things!" he said. "They kept telling me 'Professor, you are wasting money, keeping those archives…', but I kept them – Ha! I kept them!" He talked to himself as he searched through years of archived surveillance discs. "Ah ha!" He located the specific archive disks from nine years ago.

"Camera 98, camera 99, camera 100…here it is! The camera from the lab!" He fast-forwarded through to the moment just before he discovered Sari's protoform. Everyone watched, transfixed. At first, the monitor displayed nothing but a lonely room. There was nothing on the floor. Then, there was a blinding flash of light. A total whiteout came on the monitor screen. When the camera recovered from the video overload, Sari's stasis pod was sitting on the lab floor!

"Professor, what can be retrieved out of that recording? Anything?" asked Wheeljack.

"Let me see." Isaac examined the video data. "No, it's a digitized recording. Unfortunately, the camera's circuits overloaded, and all that got recorded was nothing but whiteout."

"A pity. We may never know whether there were any other images associated with its arrival." Wheeljack said. "But, we can still make a determination as to whether the arrival was accidental, or deliberate. Tell me exactly how you discovered the protoform. Can you recreate that sequence of events using these video archives?"

"Yes, yes. I was in the hallway. Let me retrieve that disc." He loaded up the hallway disc and played it on another monitor.

"Now, synchronize the two discs," said Wheeljack. Isaac did, so they could see both the lab and the hallway events occurring at the precise same moment. "Play them back, beginning just before the appearance of the pod."

Isaac played both disks from that moment. They showed him walking the hallway in the direction of the closed lab doors. The lab then showed the bright flash. From the hallway camera, the flash showed through cracks in the doorway. The monitor showed Isaac turning his head in the direction of the flash.

"This is where I noticed the flash, and I opened the doors to the lab," he said.

The lab camera showed Isaac entering, looking right and left. "I saw the pod, and had no idea where it came from."

"OK, pause," said Wheeljack. "I just noticed something. Play that back again. Watch the sequence of events, just before you open the door; watch the lab camera and the pod."

Isaac replayed both cameras. The flash occurred. Isaac noticed the flash. The exact moment he opened the doors to the lab, Sari's pod opened!

"Pause again, please," said Wheeljack.

"I don't think any of that was accidental, Professor," he said. "The pod appeared, and then when you opened the door it opened. I believe it opened just for you."

"Oh, my!" said Isaac.

"Now, let's go forward." Isaac took the video forward. The moment everyone expected came: he reached out and touched the protoform. The second he touched it, electric charges jumped from the protoform up his arm through his body throwing him back. A shock of his hair turned white. He fell backwards onto the floor, unconscious. The next moment, the silvery-white protoform began transforming.

"Professor, can you rewind and play it back from the moment just before you touch the protoform please, in slow motion?" asked Wheeljack.

"Certainly." Isaac reversed the video, playing it back slowly.

The shock of white hair traveled back down to his scalp. He came back up, and the electric jolt returned to the protoform. Isaac's hand withdrew from Sari.

"Now play it forward, very slowly please," said Wheeljack.

Isaac played it forward from that moment. This time, they could follow the course of the electric shock. Instead of going one way as it appeared before, it actually traveled first from Sari's protoform, up Isaac's arm to his body, lingering for a nanosecond, then clearly back to Sari.

"Pause it here, please, Professor," said Wheeljack. Isaac paused the video.

Wheeljack turned to Sari. "As I suspected, and now have confirmation: Sari, when you arrived in the lab, you were more than just a protoform. You were what we refer to as a sparkling protoform, which is a protoform that already has a spark in your chamber. A mere protoform would not have been able to do what that video just showed."

"You mean I didn't come from one of the stolen protoforms on the moon?" she asked.

"Highly unlikely," said Wheeljack. "Someone - we still don't know who - had taken a protoform and implanted a Spark in it. As a sparkling protoform, you were already partially formed before you arrived in the lab. That explains all of the mods you have. That little fembot sparkling protoform that arrived in your father's lab, with all those mods, already with a spark in your spark chamber, was you, Sari. Everything we have seen here clearly indicates to me that this was all done on purpose."

"A sparkling protoform needs something to imprint upon to finish the process. Right here," he said, pointing to the screen's freeze frame, "was the moment when it happened, to complete the process of development, and, finding Professor Sumdac's DNA, is where that took place."

"Sari, whoever it was that did this wanted your father to find you and transfer his DNA into you so that you would become his daughter. Their intent was for you to be a cybertronian/human technorganic - a bridge between our worlds."

He then said to Isaac: "I would go so far as to say, Professor, that you may have been under surveillance for some time before this. You were chosen."

Isaac was speechless.

"Unfortunately, the surveillance camera's circuitry failed to adequately capture the moment when you arrived, Sari," Wheeljack continued. "We still don't know who did this. That piece of the puzzle remains missing."

"Alright, let's close the circle. Continue the video, please Professor, at normal speed." Isaac continued the video.

The video continued, showing Isaac unconscious on the floor. The sparkling protoform, having absorbed his DNA, began transforming. The silvery-white shape churned, emitting a pulsing, soft white glow as it processed the DNA sequences. Gradually, its shape began to change, exchanging the alien protoform look for that of a more human shape, with skin color just like Isaac's. Finally, the body of a baby girl appeared. Shaking, it began to cry. Isaac got up, rubbed his eyes, and picked up the baby. Cradling her in his arms, he took her close to his chest. He turned toward the camera, smiling at the baby, rocking it back and forth.

"OK, that's enough," said Sari, walking away, arms folded, tears in her eyes.

**It must have been too much for Sari to actually see her birth, especially since she still didn't know exactly where she came from!**

**And Isaac never thought of looking through those old surveillance discs before? Oh well, this is the guy that thought it was a good idea to trust Megatron. **

**And it'll be good for Sari to get exposure to some other Cyber-Ninjas – she can learn some boxing techniques from Tap-Out! Thanks for reading.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sari just watched her birth, from the moment her pod appeared in Isaac's lab, to the moment he touched her sparkling protoform and she absorbed his DNA to become a technorganic. She was overwhelmed and began walking away. Wheeljack intervenes.**

"Sari, wait!" said Wheeljack. "My apologies if that video disturbed you. I should have realized seeing one's birth might be overwhelming."

"It's OK, Wheeljack," said Sari, coming back. "I always knew my Dad loved me. But seeing my birth like that," she said, wiping her tears, "was, well, yes, it was overwhelming." Sari gave her Dad a kiss. "Thanks, Dad, again, for loving me."

"Oh, you're quite welcome, my Sari," said Isaac, giving her a hug.

Glyph watched this exchange with great curiosity. "Sari, Professor, I have spent my life studying the cultures and lives of other planets," she said. "In many ways, I find humans remarkable. The way your father immediately bonded when he first saw you - amazing! But the words you just used; this 'loved' and 'loving', confuses me. How do you mean it?"

"There are many meanings of those words," said Isaac. "We mean family love, unconditional love; the love between a father and a child."

"You and Sari, are a family?" asked Glyph.

"Well, yes," said Isaac, slightly surprised by the question. "Sari and I are very much a family, although a little bit atypical, I admit. For example, I was never married."

"Ah, yes, the word 'married'." Glyph stepped back in thought. "Married…'marriage', male and...female. Love? I studied about that on my way here," she said. "I have become familiar with the...what is the word...mechanics?"

"Well, yes, there is that," said Isaac, blushing, "but that's not the 'love' I mean."

"Not the mechanics love...?" said Glyph, frowning. Then, a realization. "Oh, yes, yes, I understand! You mean the 'love' as in your Greek word ἀγάπη!"

"Yes, ἀγάπη," said Sari.

"English has too many different meanings for the same word 'love'!" sighed Glyph. She turned back to Isaac. "Is ἀγάπη the 'love' that you were expressing when you picked up the baby Sari?"

"Oh, most definitely - and still do!" said Isaac, looking at Sari. "The moment I saw her, I wanted to care for her, to protect her, to raise her as my daughter." He put his arm around her shoulder. "I knew she was special; that is why I kept her here, in Sumdac Tower. I was so afraid."

"Afraid?" asked Wheeljack, puzzled.

"Yes, afraid," said Isaac. "Not for myself! I was afraid for her. The authorities were always looking for ways to make bots that could be used for weapons, even before I saw Sari. But I always resisted them. When I first laid eyes on her, I knew Sari was very special. Of course, I knew she was not completely human. I mean, what human comes into the world the way she arrived?"

Isaac began pacing. "If the government ever found her, they might…they might," his voice quivered, "try to take her away from me and experiment on her." His voice rose. "I could never let them do that to her! I could never let that happen to her! That is why I kept her in Sumdac Tower, to keep her true identity hidden."

"You would have done anything to protect her, Professor?" asked Glyph.

Isaac stopped pacing, shocked by the question. "Anything… to protect her…she is my daughter! I would lay down my life for her!" said Isaac.

"And he did just that," said Sari. "When the Headmaster attacked us. The Headmaster had taken over Starscream's body and had full control over all of his weapons. First, Dad put me in a safe place. Then, he bravely walked right up and stood between the Headmaster and me. He put himself in mortal danger to protect me." Sari held her father's hand and looked at Glyph. "That was ἀγάπη."

"Then," said Wheeljack, "when Prowl gave up his Spark to save the people of Detroit – was that ἀγάπη?"

"Absolutely," said Sari.

"This is the bond between our races," Wheeljack observed. "Optimus told me that Prowl earnestly studied organic life on earth – despite interruptions from Bumblebee and Bulkhead," he chuckled, "and Prowl learned to appreciate how humans, and especially your family, Professor, loved one another."

"Sadly, not all humans," said Sari.

"No, not all," observed Glyph. "I studied your history. Humans have their own type of Decepticons, it would seem," she said.

"Very true, Glyph," sighed Isaac, "very true."

The group left Isaac's lab and descended down the elevator. Wheeljack and Glyph decided to head back to the Mirror-Manifold II. Sari and her Dad headed out for their weekly father-daughter lunch "date".

On the way down, Sari asked her father, "So, Dad, where'd you learn Greek?"

"M.I.T., my dear," he smiled.

Wheeljack and Glyph decided to remain on earth for the time being, sending regular reports back to the Ministry of Science. Their purpose was twofold: To devote additional study to earth's varied cultures and civilizations, as a way of honoring the work that Prowl had started; secondly, to use the knowledge gained in the pursuit of deducing Sari's origins.

After lunch with her father, Sari transformed into robot mode and went over to the Autobot Earth Base for her training with Jazz. He introduced her to Tap-Out. "Sari, I want you to meet a fellow Cyber-Ninja. Tap-Out was trained by Master Yoketron. His specialty is boxing."

Sari bowed before Tap-Out. "It is a great honor to make your acquaintance, Master Tap-Out."

"It is my pleasure, Sari," said Tap-Out, returning the bow. "Jazz tells me you are quite the ninja prodigy. Let us spar, and I would be equally honored to show you some of my boxing techniques."

With that, they went to the center of the training room and took up their sparring positions. With Jazz as the referee, Sari and Tap-Out began the training session. Tap-Out started by demonstrating his boxing moves to Sari.

A quick study, Sari picked up the moves and soon the two gave a masterful boxing performance. "You are doing well, Sari," said Tap-Out. "Let us pick up the pace." They advanced the training session to more difficult maneuvers. Sari kept up without losing a beat.

Bumblebee walked by the training room and caught the two of them going at it. He ran over to the living area where Bulkhead was relaxing. "Hey, big guy! You gotta come see this!" Bulkhead followed Bee back to the training room. "What's all the hubbub?" asked Ratchet. He got up from his work and walked over.

Before long, everyone at the Earth Base was coming in to the training room to watch. "Wow!" said Bulkhead, "Look at Sari go!"

Tap-Out and Sari continued for quite some time. It was almost like watching the recounting of an ancient warrior battle. Jab, straight right, uppercut, hook. Bolo, stick-and-move. Twist, feint, forward, jab, avoid. Ratchet watched it all and smiled. "You go, girl!" he thought to himself. Optimus was very impressed. "Is this the little child I snatched up from the hold of my ship just a few solar cycles ago?"

Eventually the session was to be ended. "Time!" said Jazz. "Very good training!" Sari and Tap-Out backed away and bowed to each other. "Very nicely done, Sari. You are an excellent gakusei. I look forward to your continued mastery of Cyber-Ninja. With Jazz' permission, we can have additional lessons."

"Thank you, Master Tap-Out," said Sari. It was an honor to spar with you."

"Very good training session, Sari," said Jazz. "You are dismissed for today." Sari bowed and took leave of her sensei.

"Woooo! Sar! You got da moves, girl!" said Bumblebee.

"Hey, Bee!" said Sari, walking towards her friends. "It was nice of you guys to come in to watch me."

"It was our pleasure, Sari," said Optimus. "We enjoyed it very much. Keep up the good work!"

"Thank you sir!" she said.

**So, Sari had a chance to learn some "smooth moves" from Tap-Out, as well as give Glyph and Wheeljack some information about human values. Thanks for reading.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sari got her GED, and wants to start college. However, she has some unique needs for a freshman – like, being able to take courses from Cybertron? Her initial interview isn't going too well.**

"So, Miss Sumdac?" asked Mr. Travers, the admissions officer. "You would like to be admitted and begin coursework here at Detroit College. He looked through her application. I see you have completed your GED."

"Yes," said Sari. She and her Dad were sitting in the college admissions office. "I also need to be able to take my coursework online, since I will be traveling frequently."

"Traveling?" asked Mr. Travers.

"Yes. In two months, I will be going back to Cybertron. I am a citizen there."

"Cybertron?" He looked at Sari over his reading glasses. "I've never heard of that country."

"It's not a country," she tried explaining. "It's another planet. Have you heard of the Autobots?" He shook his head. Sari sighed. She was beginning to sense this interview was going downhill fast.

"You see, Mr. Travers," Isaac chimed in, "my daughter Sari, is what is known as a technorganic. She is part human, part Autobot. As such, she lives half of the time here on earth, the other half on the planet Cybertron. As you might know, I am the president of Sumdac Systems, and I have set up a communication port for her so she can use her tablet to link up to your college's computer system. That way, she can do her work while on Cybertron. I am confident that everything will work well."

"I see," said Mr. Travers. Sari and her father suspected he probably did not see at all. Quite the opposite, he probably thought they were a couple of oddballs, or someone pulling a prank.

He looked at Sari's birth date. "Miss Sumdac, you are only 16 years old, is that correct?"

"Yes, I will turn 17 in three months."

He put her folder down. "Well, given your age, and your…unusual circumstances, I'm afraid this might not be the right time to…" Suddenly, gunshots were heard. "What was that?" Mr. Travers asked.

"That sounded like gunshots!" said Isaac.

"I sincerely doubt that, Mr. Sumdac," said Mr. Travers, "this is a gun-free campus."

Isaac's suspicions were confirmed when they heard screams coming from outside. "Someone's been shot! Everybody, get away from the windows!"

In the ongoing confusion, everyone in the admissions office hurried to an interior office and locked themselves in. The office director dialed 911. The college's emergency broadcast system went into effect. All huddled inside, worried about what would happen next.

"Dad, I need to help," said Sari.

"Help? How can you help, young lady? You should stay right…" A flash of blue, and Sari transformed into robot mode. "…here?" Mr. Travers' jaw dropped. He stared at her in stunned silence.

"Be careful, my Sari," said Isaac. "I will, Dad." Sari left and went outside.

Leaving the building, she saw the police and Captain Fanzone. "Captain Fanzone! It's Sari Sumdac! I'm with the Autobots! How can I help?"

"You're with the Autobots?" said Fanzone. "OK, maybe you can get in contact with Optimus to get him here on the double. There's a maniac with weapons wandering around the campus ducking in and out buildings firing on innocent people. Tell you what: in the meantime, you go see if you can help out the paramedics. They're trying to get to the wounded." Fanzone used his bullhorn over to the Fire Chief: "Hey, Chief! Autobot on the way over to assist you!"

Sari touched the side of her helmet. "Optimus! Emergency at Detroit College! There's a gunman wandering around shooting innocent people!"

"OK Sari, we're on our way! Optimus out!"

Sari went to the Fire Chief. "How can I help?" she asked.

"We need to get the wounded out of the buildings and the grounds, but that maniac fires on us when we approach them." Said the Chief.

"Let me get to them," said Sari. The Chief gave her a radio unit so they could give her the locations of the wounded and updates on the location of the gunman. She hurried from location to location, picking them up and carrying them to the ambulance. The police radio kept her informed of the gunman's general location, so she could keep herself between him and the victims.

She cradled the victims with one arm and used her Skyboom shield as a tight cover to protect them from the gunman's bullets. They would ricochet off her shield or dent her armor but she managed to keep the victims protected. "Oh Slag! I wish I knew exactly where he was firing from, I could try to shoot an orb at him!" she thought.

One of the women Sari picked up was bleeding from an abdomen wound. "It's going to be OK," she told her. "I was on the way to pick up my son from daycare," she said weakly. "Try not to talk, Sari asked, as she carried her to the paramedics.

As Sari handed the woman to the ambulance personnel, her radio broadcasted that the gunman was entering Martindale Hall. "That's where the daycare is!" she screamed. Sari immediately looked toward Fanzone. "GO!" he shouted. Sari sped toward Martindale on her jet skates.

Martindale Hall is the largest building on campus, shaped like a big "L". The daycare center is located at the long end of the L; as Sari neared the building, she could see the empty playground. Thankfully, all of the children had been brought inside when the alarm was sounded. "He entered the building at the opposite end from the daycare," said the radio. Sari crashed through the daycare window and rolled onto the floor.

Sari's dramatic entrance was met with screams from the daycare workers. "It's OK, I'm here to help! I'm with the Autobots!" she shouted. Before she was able to say more, however, a shot was heard, and a bullet shattered the front door window. The gunman had fired from the far end of the hallway toward the daycare.

"Everyone get down!" Sari shouted. Picking up the receptionist's desk, she carried it toward the door, and set it down to block any further bullets.

Stepping outside the entrance, Sari turned to confront the approaching gunman. "Put the weapon down!" she shouted while walking towards him. The gunman fired at her, but her targeting mod had locked on to the barrel as soon as he aimed and predicted the trajectory of the blast; she used her orb to disintegrate the bullet soon after it left his weapon. She then aimed a larger orb at the semi-automatic to blast the weapon out of his hands.

"I told you to put the weapon down. Now get on the floor!" Undaunted, he pulled out a pistol; she fired a heat orb that burned the pistol out of his hands. Screaming, he grabbed a knife from his belt with his other hand and charged at Sari. She knocked the knife out of his hand and grabbed his wrist, throwing him against the wall. He slumped to the floor, out cold. Captain Fanzone and the SWAT team arrived in the building to take him away.

Sari turned and went back into the daycare. Pushing aside the desk, she looked in at the staff and children. "Is everyone OK?" They still looked frightened, so to help calm them down, she removed her robot helmet to reveal her human face. "My name is Sari," she said. "The gunman has been captured. I came back to make sure you were all OK."

All the staff came up and hugged Sari, thanking her for protecting them from the gunman. Sari spent that afternoon with the children, telling them about her life as a technorganic, being on Cybertron, and living with the Autobots and with her Dad on Sumdac Tower. They liked hearing about how silly Bumblebee is, and how Bulkhead likes to paint.

Captain Fanzone and the Fire Chief recommended Sari for a special commendation. Isaac and the Autobots went up to City Hall to watch the ceremony. Mayor Edsel presented her with a mounted plaque that read "For honor and bravery, in rescuing the citizens of Detroit from a depraved gunman, the office of the Mayor hereby expresses its sincere gratitude to Miss Sari Sumdac."

Shortly after the ceremony, Sari received a personal letter from the Provost of Detroit College, welcoming her admission, and assuring her of access to its database of online courses.

**I guess the Provost had a little sit-down discussion with Mr. Travers! Thanks for reading.**


	10. Chapter 10

**After her experience rescuing the students and faculty of Detroit College, Sari learns she needs to attend an orientation session: her first time in a real classroom situation her whole life! Not only that, our technorganic is now a teenager. What could possibly happen?**

Sari learned she must attend a two-week orientation class at Detroit College. The session meets three times a week for three hours, and she will be in a classroom with about 30 other incoming freshmen.

She decided to arrive early on the first day, before the class starts. Standing at the back of the classroom Sari felt a little awkward, being the only 16-year old in a class of 17 and 18 year olds. She picked a chair in the back as the class began to fill up.

"Is this seat taken?" a voice asks. Sari looked up to see a boy standing there. He's tall, with light brown hair, and the most beautiful deep blue eyes she's ever seen. "Uh, no," she says.

"Is it OK if I sit here?"

Sari catches herself still staring. "Huh? Oh, no, please, go ahead."

"Hi, my name's Adam," he says.

"I'm Sari."

"Nice to meet you Sari. Did you go to school here in Detroit?"

"Yes, but I was home schooled."

"Hey, me too," said Adam. "I just got my GED. I feel a little weird starting college, since I only turned 17 last week."

Sari laughed "You too? I'll be 17 in a few months!"

"No way!" said Adam.

The instructor entered the classroom. "All right, can I have everyone's attention, please? Let's settle down, people!" And so began Sari's first day of college.

After class ended, Adam asked her if she'd like to get some lunch in the college food court.

"Sounds great! Oh, but my Dad's coming to pick me up. Let me talk to him first." They left the building to meet Isaac in his car.

"Hey, Dad, this is Adam," said Sari. "He's in the orientation class with me."

"Pleased to meet you, sir!" Adam shook Isaac's hand.

"Oh, hello! Nice to meet you, Adam," said Isaac.

"Um, would it be OK if Adam and I go have lunch in the campus food court?" asked Sari.

"That's fine, Sari." He said. "I'll be back in an hour to pick you up. Enjoy your lunch."

The Detroit College food court offered the students lots of options. "Oh my gosh!" yelled Sari. "They have a mini Burger Bot!" Both students got burgers and found a free table.

"So, Sari," said Adam, munching on his burger, "what kind of tutors did you have? I had my mom; she's got a Ph.D. in physics, so I learned a lot of science stuff."

"Oh, I had tutor bots. My dad runs Sumdac Systems," said Sari. Sari wasn't sure how much to tell Adam about herself.

"Wait! You're Sari Sumdac? Are you the one that took down that gunman here at college?"

Sari gulped. The cat was out of the bag! "Um yeah, that was me," she said nervously.

"I read about you in the newspaper! You're an Autobot?" asked Adam, his eyes wide open.

"Well, not exactly," said Sari. She took a deep breath. I'm what's called a technorganic. I'm half-human, half-Autobot. Right now, what you see is my human side. I hope I'm not freaking you out?" she asked nervously.

"No way! This is too cool!" said Adam. So when you took out that gunman you were an Autobot?

"Yeah. I call it my bot mode. I have weapons and shields that I can use. That's how I was able to rescue those wounded people."

"That's pretty awesome."

"But that's enough about me," said Sari, hoping to steer the conversation somewhere else. Tell me about yourself. Your mom's a scientist?

"Yeah, both she and my dad. They work for the Biggles-Jones Solar Fusion Plant," said Adam. They're hoping I'm going to follow in their footsteps. How about you?"

"I'm not sure yet," said Sari. I might go into something more like diplomatic relations."

"Ooh, sounds like a tough major," said Adam. "How are you with languages?"

"I'm pretty good with them," Sari said shyly.

Just then, Adam's cell phone rang. "Excuse me, Sari," he said, picking up the phone. "Oh hi, Mom. Yeah, I'm just finishing lunch. Meet you outside in a few."

"Wanna come outside with me and meet my mom?" he asked. Sari nodded.

They left the food court and waited outside. "It was nice meeting you, Adam," said Sari.

"Me too," Adam replied. "Same time Wednesday, same seats?"

"Sounds great! Is that your mom?" Sari spied a car pulling up with a lady waving.

"Yep. Let's go over. "Hi Mom! I'd like you to meet Sari. We're going to be in the orientation class together."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs….oh, Adam, I'm sorry, I didn't get your last name!" Sari blushed.

"Witwicky," said Adam.

"Mrs. Witwicky," finished Sari.

"Nice to meet you, Sari," said Adam's Mom, smiling. "Do you need a ride?"

"I'm OK. My dad will be here in just a few minutes. Thanks!" she said.

"OK, Sari, see you Wednesday!" said Adam as he waved goodbye.

"Bye Adam," waved Sari as the car drove away. "Bye Adam's eyes. Nice hair, too," she sighed.

"Sari? Oh, Sari... Hello?" Said Isaac in a sing-song way as he stood next to Sari. She hadn't moved from the spot where Adam and his Mom had driven away.

"Huh? Oh! Hi, Dad!" Sari said, as she suddenly noticed her dad next to her. "You're here!"

"You OK, my dear?" he asked.

"Me? Oh, I'm fine! Ready to go!"

"So, how was your lunch?" Isaac asked as they drove back to Sumdac Tower.

"Oh, it was great! Dad! They have a mini Burger Bot! Adam and I had burgers there."

"A Burger Bot! Well, what do you know? And Adam, he seems like a nice young man. I'm glad you met someone on your first day."

Sari looked out the window as they drove home. "I wonder where he lives?" she mused.

The next day, Sari switched into bot mode and went to the Autobot Earth Base. She noticed something about herself. While in human mode, she couldn't take her mind off of Adam. Ever since she had gotten in the car with her dad, he was all she thought about: his eyes, his hair, and the way he laughed.

Once she switched into bot mode, the feelings, especially the tremendous intensity of feelings, went away. It's not that she no longer liked Adam; the fondness was still there. "This is weird," she thought. She tried an experiment and switched back into human form. The human feelings for Adam came surging back like a torrent. "I need to talk to Ratchet," she thought, but first she switched back to bot mode to make the storm of feelings stop.

"I'm not surprised, kiddo," said Ratchet. "Human emotions are different than Autobot emotions, especially dealing with feelings between femmes and mechs on Cybertron and men and women on earth. Since you're a technorganic, you're going to have to learn how to deal with both."

"Well, the feelings you have for Arcee," said Sari, "You are very close friends? Forgive me if it's not appropriate to ask."

"No, that's OK," said Ratchet. "Arcee and I are very fond of one another. As mechs and femmes go, you could say our relationship is about as close as Autobots get."

"But human male female relationships, when they get to teenage and adult years, are much, much more complex than Autobot mech femme relationships, because human relationships involve reproduction. That's why the emotions get so much more intense. Autobots don't reproduce, so we don't get involved with those intense emotions. Our relationships are more like what on earth you would call a deep friendship."

Sari sighed. "Maybe I should just stay in bot mode."

"Well you can't do that, Sari," said Ratchet. "You're half human. If I recall, going through your teenage years is part of growing up human. We all have our responsibilities, and yours is to learn how to be a human as well as a bot."

"I know, Ratchet, you're right," Sari said. "That doesn't make it any easier."

"So, who's this human kid?" asked Ratchet. "What's his name?"

"His name's Adam Witwicky. He just turned 17, so he's about the same age as me. His parents work at the Solar Fusion Plant. They're scientists, and they're hoping he'll go on into the same field." Sari surprised herself at how detached that answer sounded from her human side.

"And what do you see in him?"

Sari had to think for a second. "Well, when I'm in human mode, I'm attracted to his blue eyes."

Ratchet raised an optic. "What the…his blue eyes?" He shook his helmet. "Humans." He caught himself. "Sorry."

Sari smiled. "No offense taken."

Later that evening at dinner, Sari confided in her father. "Hey, Dad, can I talk to you about something?"

"Of course, my Sari."

"Well, ever since I met Adam, I've been thinking about him all the time."

Isaac put his fork down. "Oh? Well, these kinds of feelings are to be expected, Sari. I mean, this is your first experience outside of Sumdac Tower. It's part of growing up."

"Yeah, but it sure isn't easy. The thing is, if I go into bot mode, those feelings go away. Ratchet says Autobots don't have the same kinds of feelings. He says I have to learn to deal with the human part of my emotions, that I can't run away from it by just staying in bot mode."

"Well, he's correct," said Isaac. "Every human teenager has to go through this experience. As a boy I had to learn how to deal with my emotions, and my body, and my growing up. It wasn't easy."

"But Adam seems like a nice young man. Did you meet his parents?"

"I met his mom. She's a scientist. Both his parents are. They work at the Solar Fusion Plant."

"Scientists! Well, I like them already!" said Isaac, smiling. "Let's see how things work out during this class you're taking. Maybe we can get together sometime down the road."

"OK Dad," said Sari. "Thanks for letting me talk things through."

"It's the best way to work through things, by talking about them," said Isaac. "Well, tomorrow's Wednesday, so you'll have a chance to see Adam again at your next class."

That night, Sari lay in bed, thinking about the last few days. Growing up in Sumdac Tower, she was sheltered from so many things. Of course she had to be, to keep the government from discovering her true nature. But it also meant she never learned many things about being human. Now she had a lot of catching up to do.

**So, a technorganic's got a lot of things to learn, especially a teenager! Sari probably wishes she could skip the whole human teenage part, but I'm sure she'll be fine! Thanks for reading.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Since meeting Adam, Sari's been thinking of some other things about growing up.**

Sari was in Ratchet's sick bay for her regular physical. After he was done, she sat up on his examination table. "Hey, Ratchet, how many parts of me do you think are human?"

Ratchet gave her a curious glance. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, when I am in human mode, do I have all human organs inside?"

"Well, no. For example, you still have a spark chamber in place of a heart, and a processor instead of a human brain."

"What about other human parts, like..." Sari lowered her voice. "The ones for having children?"

"Oh," said Ratchet. "I wish I could tell you kid, but the truth is, I don't know enough about the human anatomy. Have you ever been examined by a human doctor?"

"No, never."

"Well, I suggest you get your father to find you a human physician who can give you a physical."

"But wouldn't that risk what my Dad's been worried about all these years – the government finding out about me? What if they then try to come in and take me away?"

"Well, don't forget, you're a Cybertronian citizen now. These earth governments can't do anything to you without causing an interplanetary incident. If they were to try anything, they would wind up getting the whole planet of Cybertron involved." Ratchet rapped his digit on the table. "And you can bet your technorganic spark chamber that Optimus, yours truly and every Autobot here would participate in THAT little kerfuffle!"

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that." Sari smiled.

Later that day, Sari talked to her father about getting a physical. "Do you know anyone who can examine me?" she asked.

"Well, there's my personal physician, Dr. Atwood," he replied. "Let me ask him for an appointment. Better yet, I'll suggest a meeting, inviting him and Ratchet, to explain the situation. I expect he'd be in for quite an... interesting medical experience."

Isaac contacted him, and arranged an informal get together at Sumdac Tower. Present at the meeting were Sari, her Dad, Ratchet and Dr. Atwood.

"So, as I understand it," said Dr. Atwood, "Sari was not conceived in the normal human sense, but was a Cybertronian 'sparkling protoform' as you call it Ratchet, and completed her development to the point of becoming a human infant by absorbing Professor Sumdac's DNA?"

"That is correct," said Ratchet. "At that point, she became what our race refers to as a technorganic: half human, half Autobot. When Sari is in her 'bot' mode, she is fully Cybertronian. When she is in human mode, as far as I can determine, she is human. But this is what I find interesting. Even when Sari is in human mode, some parts remain Cybertronian"

"For example, in human mode, I can see that Sari has a spark chamber where a human heart would be, and a Cybertronian processor where a human brain would be."

Ratchet continued. "Before our meeting, I was able to contact Dataminer, our Cybertronian technorganic expert. I asked him about this phenomenon of technorganics having bot components that completely replace organic components when they are in their organic mode. He explained that technorganics basically get the best of both worlds – if you'll excuse the pun." Ratchet smiled and gave a knowing look at Sari; they both knew how much Dataminer liked corny jokes. Sari smiled and rolled her eyes.

"If a bot component can do the job of the organic component, and at a superior level, then the bot component remains with a technorganic even when they are in organic mode. Such is the case with Sari's spark chamber and processor. They take the place of her human heart and brain. This enables her to do things in human mode that she couldn't do otherwise. For example, with her Cybertronian processor, she became able to speak thousands of languages after her language mod kicked in."

"How does the bot component interact with the organic components that rely on it?" asked Dr. Atwood. "For example, does the spark chamber pump blood to the human organs?"

"According to Dataminer, yes," said Ratchet. "Since a technorganic's physiology includes both technological and biological components, melded at a cellular level, the bot component is able to interact with the organic component, and work together to keep their organic side alive."

"I can see some organic components in Sari, but organic life is not my area of expertise," said Ratchet. "I specialize in taking care of and healing Autobots. I know very little about human anatomy, and that is why I recommended she be examined by a human physician."

Isaac spoke up, "Dr. Atwood, you've known me for 20 years. You know me as a reputable scientist, and now you've had a chance to speak with Ratchet and learn more about the Autobots and technorganics. Would you be willing to give Sari an examination?"

"Certainly," said Dr. Atwood. He turned to Sari. "Sari, how do you feel about this? After all, this is all about you."

"This is something I care about very much," she said. "Just as I was examined on Cybertron by Dataminer, I think it is equally important for me to be examined by a physician here on earth. Thank you, Dr. Atwood, for being willing to do this."

Dr. Atwood was Chief Medical Officer at the Detroit Medical Center, and arrangements were made for her to spend an entire day there for a full series of tests and examinations.

Sari was very nervous, although not just because of what she might find out! Ratchet's physicals and Dataminer's examinations were always easy; they involved nothing more than lying on a table and letting lasers go back and forth across her body. Human examinations involved undressing and wearing that gown with the open back - yuk! And human examinations were much more...intrusive. Nevertheless, she gritted her teeth and resolved to tolerate the entire process.

After that ordeal, Sari sat in Dr. Atwood's office for a private consultation. "Well, Sari, I'm glad I set aside the whole day for this battery of tests," he said. "I studied your X-rays, your computerized imaging results, and your labs, and I must say, you are without a doubt, the most interesting person I've ever seen in my entire medical career."

"First, you are the healthiest person I have ever come across. I can find absolutely nothing wrong with you."

"Well, that's good to hear," Sari said.

"Secondly, Ratchet was correct. You have what I assume are Autobot components where you should have human organs in quite a few places. Where your brain should be I find the most intricate circuitry – what Ratchet called your processor. I'm an amateur electrical engineer; it's my hobby. Sari, your processor is like nothing I've ever seen!"

"The same goes with your musculature, your skeletal and your entire nervous system. It's all electro-mechanical. In fact, except for your skin and adipose tissue – your fat cells, there's nothing remotely human in your limbs at all." He re-read her biographical chart. "You say you first discovered you were not quite human when you injured your elbow?"

"Yes, after an incident involving the Decepticons. An explosion blew the skin off all around my elbow. All this circuitry was sparking. It really freaked me out."

"How long did it take for the skin to grow back after that injury?"

"A day or two."

"A day or two?" He removed his reading glasses. "My goodness, Sari, a skin injury that severe would take months for a normal human to heal, involving skin grafts and physical therapy. Your Cybertronian side must do something to aid in your accelerated healing. Remarkable!"

Dr. Atwood picked up another set of printouts. "Now, let's talk about your internal organs. Where your heart would be is an incredible energy source! Ratchet called it a spark chamber. It does pump blood to your human organs, exactly how I'm not entirely sure." He looked at Sari over his reading glasses and chuckled. "You don't have a pulse, you know. When I first used my stethoscope I thought it was broken!"

Sari smiled. "I saw the look on your face."

"Same thing with my sphygmomanometer. No use trying to take your blood pressure," he laughed. "At any rate, I'll have to assume that your spark chamber knows how to properly regulate your blood flow and pressure."

"Now, I'm afraid your endocrine system really has me stumped" he said. "From a medical standpoint, I have to confess, it doesn't make sense. Somehow, your body produces the hormones you need to grow and digest the food you take in and maintain your metabolism. How you do that without a pituitary gland, a thymus and a pancreas, I have no idea."

"I have to assume this is what Dataminer was talking about when he said that a bot component replaces the functioning of a human organ if it can do it more efficiently. So when you were forming after you absorbed your father's DNA, it must have decided you didn't need those organs. At any rate, that's the best conclusion I can come up with."

"What about the reproductive system?"

"Oh, that's all there," he said. "You said on the chart I gave you that your periods are normal?"

"Yes."

"Well, you're not pregnant, if that's what you're asking," he said.

"Oh, no no!" Sari blushed. "I just wanted to know if I was able to HAVE children."

"Oh!" Dr. Atwood chuckled. "Sorry about that. Yes, as far as I can see, you can."

Sari was overjoyed. "Oh thanks! I didn't know. Nobody could tell me," she smiled.

"Now, as long as we're on that subject Sari, let's talk about this 'transforming' that you do," he said. "What happens to your human organs when you go into your 'bot' mode?"

"I don't know exactly," Sari said. "I'd have to ask Ratchet, or Dataminer."

"I would strongly recommend, Sari, that you gain a full understanding of that before you even consider having children," he said. "Suppose you were pregnant, and transformed into bot mode; what would happen to the baby you were carrying?"

Sari was stunned. She never thought about that!

"If it turns out that transforming into bot mode harms the baby, I could imagine that, during the course of your pregnancy, you would have to refrain entirely from going into bot mode. What about during the first few months when you don't even know you are pregnant?"

"Another thing to consider: given your highly unusual set of internal organs, and your Cybertronian components, would your bot components know how to properly nourish the growing fetus? Perhaps; they certainly seem to do an exemplary job so far, especially with your endocrine system. But these are extremely important things for you to investigate."

"I did not even consider those things!" Sari replied. "Thank you so much for telling me!"

"My pleasure, Sari! And if you would like, I would be more than happy to recommend additional specialists for you to seek out."

**So thanks to Dr. Atwood, Sari has learned a great deal about her human side, but now she needs to get back with Dataminer to find out what happens with her organic components when she goes into bot mode! Thanks for reading.**


	12. Chapter 12

**After her physical with Dr. Atwood, Sari was back at the Autobot Base with Ratchet.**

"So, Sari, how did your physical with the doctor go?" asked Ratchet.

"It was very good," she said. "Human physicals are very different than bot physicals, though. You take all your clothes off and wear this flimsy gown that opens up in the back."

"What? Whatever for?" he asked.

"So they can more easily examine you. Then they poke and prod you all over the place, looking inside every human - opening. Not too terribly pleasant an experience, I have to tell you."

"What the…to look inside?" Ratchet was flabbergasted. "Why don't they just use lasers like the kind we have on Cybertron?"

Sari thought for a moment. "Well, perhaps organic components are more difficult to properly study with lasers than bot components. They might need to actually examine them with their eyes." Sari looked at Ratchet and raised her optic. "Maybe, because humans are…squishier?"

Ratchet liked that observation. He shot Sari a smile. "Hey! You could be right!"

"But here is the strange part," she added. "Human doctors also have other devices that can penetrate the body without touching it. These devices have names like X-rays, MRIs and CAT scans. They produce two and three dimensional images of interior organs."

"Wait a minute," Ratchet said. "So they CAN see inside. But human doctors still need to examine orifices?" Ratchet scratched his helmet. "Unbelievable."

"Well, that's not all. They also take samples of organic fluids and examine them. But when that's all done and all the output is produced, you sit down and go over everything with the doctor. I did learn a great deal. For one thing, he said I was the healthiest person he'd ever seen!" Sari smiled.

Ratchet chuckled. "Well, you are a healthy bot as well, Sari. Good to know my human counterpart agrees. So, did the doctor answer your question about your ability to have children?"

"Yes," Sari answered. "He said my human half does have that ability. However, he cautioned me about it. Before I consider getting pregnant, I have to know what happens to the fetus while I am in bot mode. I have to learn where the human organs go, and how they are kept alive to make sure the growing human child isn't harmed."

"So what exactly happens with my organic components, Ratchet? Right now, I am in bot mode. Where are my human organs?"

"Well, Sari, that's an excellent question! And I'll answer it by asking you a question. Did you ever wonder where Optimus' trailer goes when he transforms?"

Ratchet's question made Sari pause. Where DID that trailer go? "You know, now that you mention it, I always kind of wondered."

"I'll tell you. After all, it's a part of a young Autobot's curricula; Arcee used to cover it back when she was a teacher. Every bot, and that includes technorganics like you, has a personal storage area where things go. It's a "compartment" in another dimension that we call subspace. We can teleport anything to or from subspace at will for storage purposes."

"For example, that is how you make your energy hammer appear. It comes into your hands from your subspace compartment."

Sari was amazed. "Wow! My own personal subspace compartment. But, can anyone else get into it?" she asked.

"Nope. Can't happen, Sari. You are "frequency locked" to a certain pocket of subspace, so there isn't any possibility of some bot stealing things that you place into your subspace compartment."

"So that's where that stuff comes from," she thought.

"Now, to get back to your question: I would assume the same is true for your organic components when you go into bot mode. They go to your subspace compartment."

Sari raised an optic and made an awkward face, thinking about her human organs "floating" around in her subspace compartment. "My human organs go there? But how are they kept alive by my bot components here in this dimension? How does that work?"

"That's a darned good question, kiddo. I'm afraid I don't know. That's something you'll have to ask Dataminer when you see him – he's probably the only bot who would know."

"Oh. Ah well. At least, between you and Dr. Atwood, I got a lot of my questions answered. Thanks so much for the ones you can answer, Ratchet! I'll have to talk to Dataminer when I see him."

"That's right Sari! You're due back on Cybertron in a month, aren't you?" Ratchet asked.

"Yes. It's hard to believe it's been almost six months since we arrived back on earth!" Sari said. "A lot has happened, hasn't it?"

"You've got that right, young ninja!" Ratchet smiled.

Later that afternoon, Sari was over at Adam's house. He was doing his physics homework, while Sari was on her pad hard at her online coursework.

"Oh, I'm ready to take a break!" Adam stretched. "How about you, Sari?"

"Sounds good," she said. "Snack time?"

"Let's see what my mom's got in the fridge." They headed to the kitchen, and Adam looked inside. "Microwave pizza?"

"Works for me!" Sari smiled. "And here's some soda." They opened up the pizza box, popped it in the microwave and sipped the sodas while it heated up.

"Hey, Sari, want to go to the movies this Saturday? That new show premiers this weekend at the mall."

"Sounds great!" she said. "Let's go to the 3D IMAX one. Then we can grab a bite to eat at the food court."

Adam put down his soda. "So, you're leaving in a month? I'm sure gonna miss you Sari," Adam said. "You'll be gone for half a year?"

"I'm afraid so." She said. "My assignment with the Autobot High Council requires me to spend half the year here on earth and the other half on Cybertron. I need to learn more about my Autobot half, seeing as how I grew up here on earth. Jazz told me that he will be spending a lot of time training me at Yoketron's Cyber-Ninja Dojo."

"What's Cyberton like, anyway? Is it anything like earth?"

"No, nothing like it at all," Sari explained. "For one thing, Cybertron's surface is completely covered with metal, and large towers on the surface of the planet are clearly visible from space."

"Wow. It must be something to see!"

"More than meets the eye!" Sari winked. "Most of the Autobots there are a lot taller than humans, too. You've seen Optimus and the bots here, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, imagine a planet full of them, and you walking around. You have to make sure you don't get stepped on. I have to kind of watch out a bit. Another thing; most of them never really met a non-Autobot. They call people like you and me 'organics' and they kind of freak out when they see us. When I'm there, I stay in my bot mode just to be safe. Some of them go 'Oooh, yuck an organic!' and run away. Others may say 'Let's step on it!' Of course, that's just some. Many of them aren't like that at all."

"Good grief!" said Adam. "If I ever visit, I'd better stay near you to protect me." He smiled.

"You heard about what happened to Captain Fanzone, right? He didn't have a good time there when he accidentally landed in the middle of a bunch of those types," Sari said.

"Yeah, I heard about that," he smiled.

"He always says," [imitating Fanzone's voice] "'This is why I hate machines!', and maybe that's one reason," she laughed.

"Poor Fanzone!" Adam chuckled. "Anyway, I'm glad your Dad helped us set up a video link to Cybertron from Sumdac Tower," said Adam. "You and I will be able to keep in contact with the video phone."

"No problem," said Sari. "He's got some kind of link-up that the Autobots put together. It really works well; my dad and I used it the last time I was there."

"My dad was worried about the long-distance charges," he laughed.

"I don't think anything Cybertronian will show up on the bill," Sari smiled. "Just a charge from your house to Sumdac Tower."

"Hey who knows? Maybe someday, I will come visit Cybertron!"

"That would be awesome, Adam!" Sari said. "You can come see my apartment."

The microwave beeped, announcing the pizza was ready. They took it out and sat at the kitchen table enjoying their study snack.

Adam looked at Sari. "Will you let me come up to the space bridge on Sumdac Tower to say goodbye when you leave?"

"Oh Adam, I wouldn't want it any other way!" said Sari. "If you weren't there I'd never forgive you!" she semi-scolded.

**So Sari's got one month left before she has to say goodbye to earth and return to Cybertron. And bid farewell to her Dad – and Adam! Thanks for reading.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Takes place one month after the previous chapter. Time for Sari to return to Cybertron! But no sooner does she arrive, when she learns that Jazz has immediate plans! **

It was time for Sari to return to Cybertron. She spent the morning in her room packing up her things. "I guess I won't need too many clothes, since I'll probably be spending 99% of my time in bot mode while up there," she thought. She packed her college text books, and of course, her touch pad. "Now we'll see how well Dad's linkup to Detroit College works!"

She put together all of her things and took the elevator up to the top of Sumdac Tower. As soon as the doors opened, there on the platform were Optimus, Ratchet, Bulkhead, Arcee, Bumblebee, her Dad, and of course, Adam! Jazz was there to accompany her to Cybertron. They would be together, and he would continue to be her Sensei as well as her Commanding Officer for the six months she was there.

"We're all here to give you a proper sendoff!" said Optimus. "While you're back on Cybertron, we'll be here on earth taking care of things."

"Aw, thanks for being here, everyone!" said Sari. She wiped away a tear. "I'll miss all of you. I hope my time away will fly by as quickly as my six months here."

Sari gave Optimus a salute. "Goodbye, Sir! Thank you for your leadership! I will look forward to returning!" "And I will look forward to having you back on my team, Sari!" said Optimus, returning her salute.

"Bye, Ratchet! Thanks for keeping me running smooth!" "You take care of yourself, kiddo!" said Ratchet.

"Goodbye, Bulkhead! Keep up the painting, OK? And keep that space bridge running smooth!" "Will do, Sari! Good luck on Cybertron!"

"Bye, Arcee! Thanks for all your advice and encouragement! See you soon!" "You take care, Sari! And keep up the excellent job with your training!" Arcee said.

"Hey, Bee! I'm gonna phone you lots! Maybe we can try linking up a video game between the planets!" "Sounds good, Sar! You keep up those smooth moves!" Said Bumblebee.

Oh, Dad," said Sari, hugging her father, tears welling up. "These six months went by too quickly. But I'm so glad I was back in Sumdac Tower. We'll keep talking on video phone like before." Sari said.

"Goodbye, my Sari," Isaac said. "You are growing up so quickly. I am so proud of you!"

Sari walked over to Adam. "And I'm so glad you came, Adam. I'm going to miss you so much!" Sari and Adam embraced and kissed for the first time. "Goodbye, Sari. Love you!" said Adam. "Love you too!" she said.

Bulkhead fired up the space bridge. "Ready when you two are," he said.

A flash of blue, and Sari transformed into bot mode. She waved goodbye to her father and friends, and then she and Jazz jumped into the space bridge.

No sooner did they arrive on Cybertron, when Jazz told Sari to stow her things in her apartment and meet him at a designated space port. "Before our arrival Sari, I made some arrangements. We're going to take a short trip to Prowl's tomb."

"Oh, wow. Prowl's tomb?" Sari thought. She was surprised, yet excited by the prospect.

Once at the space port, Jazz signed out a shuttle and set course to the Autobot Mausoleum. "We will go there to pay our respects to Prowl," said Jazz. The mausoleum is set adrift in the Hadeen system, between the orbits of Galleon and Thuvia. The trip there will take less than one solar cycle.

While en route, Sari talked with Jazz about Prowl's internment. "As you know, Bulkhead, Ratchet, Bumblebee and I bore Prowl's pallet off the ship when we arrived on Cybertron."

"Yes, I remember. Then I didn't see you for a few solar cycles," Sari said."

"We boarded a shuttle much like this one," Jazz continued, "and brought Prowl to the mausoleum. Optimus had made the arrangements for his tomb in advance of our arrival, and when the shuttle landed we carried it to his final resting place."

"We conducted a memorial service, and the four of us placed Prowl in his casket. Then we closed the top, and the Curator's staff prepared the tomb. You will see how it looks when we arrive. I was given the honor of choosing his hologram."

They made landing preparations as their shuttle neared the mausoleum, and Sari was astounded at its size. They approached it from the rear, and as their craft traversed from back to front, she had the opportunity to observe the full length. The Autobot Mausoleum is an angular, roughly barge-shaped craft, with a flat landing platform at the front for visiting ships. Roughly the size of earth's Manhattan Island, it is 22 km long, 4 km wide, and 500 meters deep.

"Autobot Shuttle Omega Delta II, requesting landing privileges," Jazz spoke to the Autobot Mausoleum's control tower.

"Roger, Omega Delta II, proceed to landing bay Delta Five Three," responded the control tower.

The administrative center is located at the landing end, and is taller than the rest of the mausoleum. It is a five-sided building adjacent to one end of the landing platform, and also serves as the control tower for guiding ships to their docking station. The level nearest to the landing platform has the visitor's center and the Curator's office.

Jazz piloted their shuttle to the designated landing bay.

"After we land, we'll check in with the Curator. He'll guide us to Prowl's tomb," said Jazz. They powered down the shuttle and entered the administrative center.

"Hello. May I help you?" asked the Curator. "Are you here to pay your respects to a particular Autobot?"

"Yes, Curator. We've come to pay our respects to the Autobot known as Prowl," said Jazz.

"Oh, yes, a recent addition to our Veil of Remembrance. Did you know him?"

"Yes, my name is Jazz. I was at his side when he gave up his spark to save the earth city, and was a pall bearer for his internment. Prowl was a Cyber-Ninja, as am I. And this is my gakusei, Sari Sumdac. She was a student of his."

"Pleased to meet you both," said the Curator. "You can find Prowl's tomb at sector 122R, location 10027. Board the tram at the end of the hallway and it will take you there."

They walked down the hallway and got on the tram. "Location, please," asked the tram voice." "Sector 122R, location 10027," answered Jazz. The tram took off. On the way, the tram presented a brief history of the mausoleum.

"The Autobot Mausoleum is the final resting place of the chassis and servos of fallen Autobot heroes. It is set adrift in deep space. Inside, you can find the memorial known as the Veil of Remembrance. Among its honored dead, is the final resting place for the Autobots that were lost in the Great War."

Soon the tram approached the Veil of Remembrance. Large Eternal Flames burned on either side of the entrance. Above the opening was an inscription in brilliant lettering: "We shall not forget them. Nor fail to reward that which was given: Courage, Valor, Honor."

They passed by seemingly innumerable tombs of Autobot heroes from past battles, most from the Great War. "You will have an opportunity to study these as you learn more about your Cybertron history, Sari," Jazz explains. Sari was awed by the endless corridors of memorials. Each one has a coffin with the name of the honored dead etched in something luminous, an official plaque, a large Autobot insignia and a little Eternal Flame. On top of the casket is a hologram of the departed.

The tram went for what seemed several kilometers, then came to a stop. "Sector 122R, location 10027," it announced. "Honored Autobot Prowl. Sacrificed his spark to save the people of earth's city of Detroit from a weapon of mass destruction set by the Decepticons Megatron and Starscream."

Sari and Jazz got off the tram and stood before Prowl's tomb. On it in glowing gold was etched his name, "Prowl". His plaque described his selfless deed:

**The evil Decepticons Megatron and Starscream had unleashed clones of Omega Supreme on the earth city of Detroit with weapons of mass destruction, intending to destroy not only the Autobots, but the entire human population. Cyber-Ninjas Prowl and Jazz, using Processor-over-matter, attempted to gather the power of the AllSpark, which had been shattered across the landscape, to stop the impending explosion.**

**But try as they might, Prowl and Jazz were unable to muster enough AllSpark fragments to serve their needs; some fragments were missing! With the Omega Supreme clones threatening to blow up the city and everything within a 160-km radius, Prowl levitated himself up towards the AllSpark fragment collection and relinquished his own spark. With one last serene smile, Prowl was lost momentarily in a flash of light and fell lifeless into Jazz' arms.**

**This last act enveloped the Omega Supreme clones in an AllSpark-powered shell, defusing the explosion into a harmless puff of smoke. With this single selfless act, Prowl saved the lives of not only his Autobot comrades, but millions of humans.**

His hologram depicted Prowl with Master Yoketron's helmet, as Jazz requested. His coffin was in Prowl's colors: black, gold and grey.

"Does the mausoleum have breathable air?" Sari asked.

"Yes," Jazz answered.

"Then if I could ask your indulgence Sensei, I would like to transform into human mode and pay my respects to Prowl in private."

"Certainly, Sari. I will go down to the next sector. You can find me there. Please take as much time as you wish."

With that, Jazz took his leave of Sari and left her alone at Prowl's tomb. There was a flash of blue behind him, and the soft sounds of sobbing in the distance.

**Jazz decided that it was important for Sari to pay her respects, as a way of experiencing closure regarding Prowl's death. He knew that this would be inadequate in bot mode, since she was half human, and Autobots lack the full range of emotions that would be available to her in human mode. He was glad that she chose to do this in human mode. Thanks for reading.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Sari sends some letters and emails from Cybertron…**

Sari Sumdac  
HC 61 Apt 45 375  
Central City, Cybertron

September 14, 2148

The Honorable Augustus Edsel  
Mayor of Detroit  
City Hall  
2 Woodward Avenue  
Suite 1126  
Detroit, MI 48226  
USA, Earth

Mayor Edsel:

I wanted to write to let you know that I was able to visit Prowl's tomb at the Autobot Mausoleum in the Hadeen planetary system, between the orbits of Galleon and Thuvia. At my last visit to Your Honor's office, your press secretary had expressed a desire for a photograph of the tomb. Attached to this letter, please find a copy for your office, along with a translation of the Cybertronian texts.

I was honored to be able to represent the people of Detroit in paying my respects to Prowl for his selfless act in saving us from the insane weapons of mass destruction unleashed by the Decepticons Megatron and Starscream.

It is with a great sense of civic pride that I consider myself a native daughter of the great city of Detroit. I wish you and your citizens the best as I continue my studies here on the planet Cybertron, and look forward to returning to the greatest municipality on earth!

Sincerely,

Sari Sumdac

* * *

From: Sumdac, Sari  
To: Sumdac, Isaac  
Subject: Hi from Cybertron!

Dear Dad,

I just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know that your space bridge computer link-up to the Detroit College's online course system works great! I'm having no problems accessing all my professors' lectures and bulletin boards, and I can participate in real-time sessions with my classmates! This is so cool! In fact, some of my friends have a hard time believing I'm communicating with them from a whole other solar system! Thank you so much for working with Bulkhead in setting this up!

You should see the reactions I get when they see my image in bot mode during class discussions! Ha! It's like "Whoa! Who – or what – is that?" :-)

Anyway, things here are going well. Jazz introduced me to Dai Atlas. He is a war hero who retired from military service to focus on rebuilding Master Yoketron's dojo. We go every day to help him, and we work there like we did in Prowl's room; I really like doing that kind of work - it's kind of like fixing a broken machine, only what we're fixing is a broken building. I love it. It makes me so happy to see things that had been strewn about in pieces get put back together! I also managed to repair the dojo's internal systems with my special "mojo", as Bumblebee calls it. ;-)

Dad, I feel like my calling is to do just that: help repair things that are broken, whether they are computer systems, machines, buildings, bots, or people. Jazz senses it too; he says I have been given a special gift from the AllSpark. Dai Atlas is very appreciative of our efforts!

That's all I can think of for now. Will call you on the video phone first chance I get. Love you Dad!

Sari

* * *

NOTE: The following is a translation from the Cybertronian.

* * *

To: Bee  
From: Guess Who!  
Subject: Ha! You'll never guess!

Hey! What's going on! How's things on earth! I was thinking of you here on Cybertron and the blast we had visiting Iacon. Remember when we ran into Sentinel Prime? Yikes!

Anyway, I miss having fun with you, Bee. When I get the time, I want to see if the space bridge computer link-up to earth that Bulkhead and my Dad put together can get us a video game link. Between my coursework with Detroit College, and the stuff I'm doing with Jazz over at Master Yoketron's dojo I'm not sure when I'll have the time tho. Sigh... Busy, busy, busy work for a technorganic student / ninja-in-training. :-/

Will you ever get the chance to hop in the space bridge to get up here to Cybertron? That would be totally awesome! Maybe Optimus will give you some time off? I know those Deceptislimes are out there, and that idiot Swindle - I hate him! (Well, Cyber-Ninja gakuseis aren't supposed to hate, and I can think of other words to use for Swindle, but Jazz tells me Cyber-Ninjas should not use those kinds of words).

So if Optimus can't spare you - sigh - I understand. :-)

Anyway, I hope everything's going well there on earth. You take good care of the place where I was born, OK? And give my best to all the bots there. How's Bulkhead's painting coming along? I miss watching him!

If you can't make it up here, I'll look forward to the six orbital cycles when I can return!

Your bud,

Sari

* * *

To: Adam Witwicky  
From: Sari Sumdac  
Subject: Hey!

Hi Adam! I miss you so much! I'm attaching pictures of my apartment. It's been so busy up here! As soon as Jazz and I arrived, I had to drop my stuff off and go with him on a space shuttle. We went to Prowl's tomb, which is on a special mausoleum set adrift out in deep space.

Adam, I went there in bot mode. As soon as I saw the tomb, my bot emotions were not good enough to express what I wanted to feel! Prowl's been an inner guide to me, but more than that Adam, he gave his life to save all of us in Detroit!

Humans have more emotions than Autobots, and in much greater ranges; the Autobot Glyph says that's why bots have such a hard time understanding humans when they first come to earth. So when I saw Prowl's tomb in bot mode, I did not "feel" the things I wanted to feel.

Fortunately, the mausoleum has breathable air, so I asked Jazz if I could transform into human mode and be alone to pay my respects. He very politely agreed, and went off to another area of the mausoleum.

I transformed, and that freed me up to my human emotions. I cried, Adam. They were tears of mourning, of thanks. I cried for me, I cried for my Dad, I cried for Detroit. I thanked Prowl for what he did for us.

Jazz understands. He's been with humans long enough to appreciate what humans feel in their hearts when a close friend dies (well, I have a spark chamber in place of a heart, but you get my meaning). :-)

But anyway, like I said, I've been very busy since I arrived. Jazz and I have been working on repairing Master Yoketron's dojo. It was destroyed by Lockdown, who killed Yoketron. We're restoring it like we restored Prowl's room on earth. And as soon as I get home in the evening I do my coursework.

As soon as I get some spare time, I'll give you a call, I promise!

Love you!

Sari

**So, Sari's very busy! Working at the dojo during the day and doing coursework in the evening. Just enough time to send emails. Thanks for reading.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Now Sari has time to get an important question answered!**

Sari had finally earned some free time, and decided to pay a visit to her friend Dataminer. Walking into his office, she noticed that nothing had changed from last time; the main entrance still had shelves full of books, drawings, charts and diagrams.

Dataminer came out from his inner room. "Hello? Well, hello, Sari! How good it is to see you again! How's my favorite technorganic doing these days?"

"I'm doing very well, Dataminer, thanks! It's hard to believe it was only six orbital cycles ago I was here in your office asking you to help me understand what it meant to be a technorganic. I've learned a great deal since then."

"Wonderful to hear, my dear! I think one of earth's philosophers, Lao Tzu, put it well: 'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.' You had begun your journey, and I'm glad to have been able to help you with that first little hop, skip, and jump." He chuckled.

"And you also testified at my appearance with the Autobot High Council," Sari said. "I'll never forget that."

"Oh, it was my pleasure, my dear. And here you are, a full Cybertronian citizen, with an Autobot insignia! Well done! So what can I do for you today?"

"While on earth, I had the opportunity to be examined by a human physician. He helped me understand my organic half. He also could see that my spark chamber pumped blood to my organs while I was in human mode. And Ratchet explained how my human organs go into my subspace compartment when I am in bot mode. But there is one last piece that I'd like to understand, and I was hoping you could clear up for me. How does my spark chamber work to pump blood to my human organs while they sit in the subspace compartment?"

"Excellent question, Sari! That topic is something I studied quite extensively in my research on the Maximals. You may be interested to know that their physiology is quite similar to yours." Dataminer went over to one of his shelves and looked for a particular ream of papers. "Hmm. Let's see now. Ah yes! Here it is!" He pulled out several documents and laid them out on his desk. "You see, the link between you and your technorganic subspace compartment is such that there is a perpetual interaction."

One thick document was titled "Quickstrike". "I was fortunate to be able to study the maximal Quickstrike, who was a true technorganic. His organic "beast" mode was a Gray Wolf. Fascinating maximal! Quiet and reclusive; very intelligent!"

Dataminer showed Sari a holograph of Quickstrike in beast and robot mode. "Wow! He's powerful!" she said.

"Extremely dedicated to the maximal cause," said Dataminer. "His motto is: 'Robots with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.'"

Sari was impressed. "He allowed you to study him? How were you able to gain his confidence?"

"I was able to convince him that my research on technorganics could prove useful to all maximals, and in fact it was. Maximals respect all life and follow a path of peace before war. I had previously helped another of his kind named Snarl, and that act convinced Quickstrike that my intentions were sincere. Of course, I shared everything I learned with them all."

Dataminer showed Sari the key section of his document that explained how the spark chamber worked in tandem with Quickstrike's organic components. "His spark chamber pumps blood into his organic components when he is in bot mode just as yours does, even while they are in his subspace chamber. I discovered that he does this by maintaining a continuous transference between our dimension and the subspace dimension."

"In fact, Sari, while working with Quickstrike I designed a device that displays this action in real time. If you wish, I could use it on you and we could view the results."

"Wow! That would be great!" she said.

"Well, then, let's go back in my lab and see what turns up, shall we?"

They walked into Dataminer's back room and Sari jumped up to his examination table. To the right of the lab was a large side room that contained shelves of equipment. These were the specially designed measuring and scoping devices that Dataminer had invented over the stellar cycles of his research. Sari recalled Arcee's words to that effect when she, Ratchet and Sari had first walked up to Dataminer's office. Was that just six orbital cycles ago, she thought? It seemed like another lifetime!

"Ah, here we are!" he said. Dataminer came out with what looked a little like the "sonogram" device that one of Dr. Atwood's technicians had used on her, only this was much larger and had several cables attached to it. Sari was also hoping it didn't involve that jelly stuff!

"Let me hook it up to the display monitor here, so you can see as well, Sari," said Dataminer. He connected the output cable to the monitor closest to her optics, and placed the sensor component near her spark chamber.

"Now first, let me show you your spark chamber as it appears here, in our dimension." Dataminer set the sensor to its lowest setting. Sari looked at the monitor, and watched transfixed at her pulsing spark. It was a semitransparent blue ball of energy composed of smaller, blue spheres. The center spheres were engulfed in a reddish glow. An ever-changing pattern of "electricity"-like lines traveled around the surface and through the interior.

"Dataminer, this is incredible!" said Sari.

"Yes, the first time I saw a spark, it was quite an amazing thing to behold. Now, as a technorganic, let's have a closer look, and see where your spark contributes to your organic half." Dataminer then adjusted the magnification level, so that the display zoomed in at the edges of the spark down, down, down to the cellular/molecular level.

"Here, you will see the point where your spark chamber melds with your organic circulatory system." Sari looked at the monitor, and could see the spark chamber components enveloping the organic cellular arteries and veins.

"Energy transference from the spark moves the blood cells along at a constant rate," Dataminer explained. "There is no need for a pump, per se."

"That explains why the earth physician was not able to get a pulse," Sari smiled. "Nor was he able to use his sphygmomanometer, which is used to gauge blood pressure."

"No, technorganics have no pulse." Dataminer confirmed. "Many organic physicians are surprised to discover that."

"Now, look here," said Dataminer, as he moved the sensor slightly away from her spark. "Notice anything?"

Sari could see a point where the arteries and veins suddenly disappeared! "They're gone!"

"Precisely. You are in bot mode, so they have left our dimension and entered your subspace chamber. This is the point when I was examining Quickstrike that I became most excited! I knew I was on the verge of discovering an extremely important fact about technorganics."

"Now, let us go even deeper, Sari. Let's see what happens beyond our dimension." Dataminer prepared to adjust his scope to peer into subspace, but first wanted to explain an important point. "Keep in mind, I am unable to physically access your subspace chamber," he explained. "Each one of us is frequency locked into our own subspace component. We are able to access our own, and no one else's. However, in my research, I discovered something absolutely fascinating: while I cannot touch, I can look."

"Are you ready?" He asked.

"Yes, please proceed."

He turned the dials, and the monitors showed fewer colors and the display was slightly blurred. "The views into subspace aren't quite as crisp as our dimension, I'm afraid. However, I am able with enough magnification, to show you the transition that occurs." Sure enough, Sari could now see beyond the transition point to the circulatory system in her subspace compartment, with the blood in constant motion as was occurring right next to her spark chamber.

"Dataminer, this is awesome!"

"Now, if you like, I can back out of the magnification, and you will be able to see your human organs." He lowered the magnification, and Sari saw her internal organs!

This was less awesome. "Um, eew?"

Dataminer chuckled. "Well, I suppose that's not the most interesting thing to view."

"I must ask, though, how do they hang together?" Sari asked.

"Ah! Good question. There is an energy force that holds them together, It takes the place of an organic part that full humans have – connective tissue, I believe it's called. You have it when you are in human mode."

"Now, here is a final question I have, Dataminer, and I think you may be the only one who can answer it. The earth physician told me that my reproductive system is fully functional, which means that I could have children. However, he warned me to make sure I understood what would happen to the fetus while my uterus was in the subspace compartment. Have you known female technorganics who became pregnant?"

"Yes, I have," he said. "The female technorganic Maximals bore their young with no problems, and I observed them transforming during the course of their pregnancy. This was necessary, especially during the Beast Wars"

"Ah! Now that's what I was hoping to hear!" She said.

"Now, if I may ask," Dataminer inquired, "would it be a technorganic child you were hoping to bear?"

"I hadn't considered that specifically. Why do you ask?"

"Well, simply for this reason, Sari. You will likely live for millions of stellar cycles. If you mate with another technorganic such as yourself, your offspring will be technorganic as well. But should your mate be a full human, your children would also be human, with a human life span. You would then have to be prepared to see yourself outlive not only your mate, but your children as well."

This revelation shocked poor Sari! She had not thought about the lifespan issue since Dataminer had first brought it up. Now that she's thinking about adult things, conflicts between her human and Cybertronian sides seem to keep cropping up. How would she feel about seeing her own children grow old and die before her? "Oh, Dataminer, that's too sad to think about!"

"I understand, Sari, I understand. But it's better for you to consider these things beforehand," he said.

**A question answered – she can safely bear children! But would she be prepared to watch her fully human children grow old and die, while she remained young? What implications does this have with any relationships she would hope to have on earth? With Adam? Sari is going to have to struggle with these issues. Thanks for reading.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Before leaving Dataminer's office, Sari learns about a new mod, and this one leads to yet another turn in her technorganic life!**

"Well, Sari, while you are here, let's have a look at your mods, shall we?" Dataminer said as he put away his "Quickstrike" device.

"Sounds good," Sari replied, and lay down on his examination table. He fired up his sensors and display units. "Well, now, THIS is interesting, Sari!"

"What? What do you see?"

"A new mod has come online. Something coming out from those triangular shapes above your helmet, apparently. Most interesting! Let me have a closer look." He adjusted some controls and studied the output.

"Well, well. Who would have guessed? Those shapes above your helmet – they more or less correspond to your hair style when you are in human mode?"

"Yes," she replied. "I always assumed they were ornamental, nothing more."

"Well, not quite, my dear!" chuckled Dataminer. "Those devices are mods of their own! In fact, they are highly sophisticated sensor/processors. My analysis shows…"

Dataminer stopped himself, and went to the entrance of his office to make sure his door was closed. He came back in and spoke in rather hushed tones.

"My analysis shows them to be capable of intercepting and decrypting cyber communications, and re-transmitting them, at will, into any number of other encryption keys."

"In other words, Sari, with this mod, you have become a walking cyber communications agent."

"I think it would be best if we report this to the Autobot High Council."

Shortly after her visit with Dataminer, Jazz received an urgent communication: he and Sari were to report immediately to The Metroplex.

Upon their arrival, Horsepower and Sparkride escorted them to The Autobot High Council Intelligence Committee's top secret meeting room. It was located in a lower sub-basement of the Metroplex. There, they sat down for a briefing with Perceptor and Mainframe.

Perceptor began the meeting: "Two solar cycles ago there was an attack on the prison holding Lugnut. It was led by a group of Decepticons headed by General Strika. The invasion was repelled, but at great cost of Autobot lives. Had we foreknowledge of the attack, we could have warned prison defenses and they would have been better prepared, instead of being caught off guard."

Mainframe continued: "Autobot intelligence capability is far superior to that of the Decepticons. Up until now, our cyber intelligence officers were able to intercept and act upon enemy communications, but we have recently become unable to decrypt their transmissions."

"We believe the Decepticons have acquired communication equipment with superior encryption technology. Perceptor and I have conducted an analysis of the data intercepts, and detected many correlations between it and similar data samples taken from older Halonian cryptographic data structures."

"The Halonians are Autobot allies," said Perceptor. "We have been in communication with them since this attack, and they told us they did not sell it to the Decepticons. We have no reason to disbelieve their assertion, so we have concluded that the Halonian technology was stolen, or purchased from a criminal third party."

"Swindle, I wonder?" thought Sari.

"Since the attack, the Halonians have provided us with their latest cryptographic technology," said Mainframe. "Unfortunately, that is only a partial solution to our dilemma. Once the Decepticons generated their cyber key, it became an extremely secure communications medium – for them. Even with this new Halonian technology, my scientists have so far been unable to crack the encryption."

"Sari, I am assigning you to work with Mainframe in his lab," said Perceptor. "With this new mod of yours, you might be able to help him crack the code, so we can go back to monitoring Decepticon communications."

Sari felt a little bit nervous, given her previous experience with Halonian technology.

"I understand, Sari, that you've had some experience with Halonian equipment," said Mainframe.

"Yes, during our first trip to Earth. I was able to repair the ship's malfunctioning AE-35, although I was not as careful as I should have been and almost got lost inside. Luckily I was able to use my Cyber-Ninja Processor-Over-Matter training to find my way out."

"Perhaps, Jazz, you should accompany Sari when she begins working on the Halonian device," said Perceptor. Jazz nodded, and Sari felt relieved knowing her Sensei would be nearby, should she be stuck inside like before.

After the meeting, Mainframe escorted Sari and Jazz to the Metroplex lab where his scientists were analyzing the Decepticon transmissions.

The lab was a large room, with tall towers of black and dark blue electronic equipment. Red, green, and yellow lights blinked at seemingly random intervals, and there was a constant humming noise. As they walked around, Sari could sense they were on a raised floor. "This is our development laboratory, where we build and test new encryption algorithms and technologies," said Mainframe. "We've been trying to crack the encrypted communications since before the attack, but even with the new Halonian server, have not had any success."

The new Halonian encryption server was temporarily installed to one of the lab's systems. "We've been capturing the Decepticon's transmissions since before the attack, so we have a great deal of data to work with," said Mainframe. Unfortunately, it's still in a form that's unintelligible to us. Once we can decrypt it, we can resume eavesdropping on their communications."

"Where would you like me to start?" asked Sari.

"Over there is the main data entry point." Mainframe motioned towards an area of the lab with a large work area, keyboard and display unit.

Sari sat next to the keyboard, and Jazz sat beside her. "I will sit beside you the entire time, Sari," said Jazz. She smiled at her Sensei, relieved that he will be there should this experience with Halonian technology mirror her last.

She extended her servos over the work area. Her digits opened up and the prods penetrated the keyboard. Immediately her optics went from blue/white to all white and she began "seeing" the internal workings of the development system.

"Sari, can you hear me?" asked Jazz.

"Yes, Sensei, no difficulties communicating with you and Mainframe. I'm inside the development system at the moment. Its operating system is communicating with me and I'm learning how to reach the Halonian server, and where I can find the Decepticon transmission files."

Jazz and Mainframe exchanged glances. "Remarkable!" said Mainframe.

Sari proceeded to retrieve the Decepticon data and moved over to the port that took her into the Halonian device. The moment she began interacting with the Halonian server, her new mod engaged, and the triangular shapes on her helmet began to glow bright blue.

Sari fed the Decepticon data into the Halonian server, but it rejected her decryption requests. "Key!" it demanded. "I do not have the key!" she responded. Her mod kept processing and trying countless key sequences, but they were all rejected.

"The Halonian server demands that I supply it with a key, but so far I am unable to produce one that it will accept," Sari told Mainframe.

"Is there another way?" he asked her. "You are able to communicate with the server in ways we cannot."

"I will try," she said. Sari sought help from the Halonian server. It gave her information on how to format requests and how to parse statements, but it adamantly refused decryption requests. "Key!" it would demand over and over again.

This went on for several cycles. "No luck yet," Sari said with each try.

"This is unfortunate," said Mainframe.

"Sari, try P-O-M" said Jazz.

"Good idea." Sari settled down, and began to meditate. "Processor-over-matter. Processor-over-matter." She repeated to herself. Her triangular shapes stopped glowing blue.

"Uh, Mainframe?" said Jazz. He and Mainframe looked up as the servers in the lab began operating strangely, with the lights flashing back and forth, back and forth in sequence like a marquee. "They've never done that before," said Mainframe. The display unit overhead began scrolling "Processor-over-matterProcessor-over-matterProcessor-over-matter" down the screen. "P-O-M," Jazz told Mainframe.

This went on for several cycles, when suddenly, the Halonian server said "Override" and gave Sari a code and delivered instructions.

"Mainframe! I'm sending you a back-door override code in a file. Feed this into the Halonian server and it will let you break the Decepticon's encryption." Mainframe retrieved the file and input the code. Sure enough, it allowed him to bypass the key and decrypt the Decepticon communications!

"Sari, this is incredible!"

With the back-door to the server working, Sari exited the system and returned to the control panel. Her prods retracted back into her digits, her optics changed back from all white to blue/white. She sat back in the chair, smiling.

Afterwards, Sari, Jazz, Mainframe and Perceptor held a "post mortem" meeting.

"Thanks to your efforts, Sari, we are once again able to intercept the Decepticon's communications," said Mainframe. We will no longer be caught by surprise."

"I'm honored to have been able to help!" Sari said.

"What we did, of course," said Perceptor, "was completely break the Halonian's most sophisticated encryption technology. Whether or not they are aware of this back-door technique, we may never know."

"Sari, Jazz, your assistance today has been invaluable in protecting Cybertron. The Autobot High Council owes both of you a tremendous debt of gratitude. That being said, everything you have done must be kept in absolute secrecy. Nothing can go beyond these doors, and both of you must pledge an oath of non-disclosure."

"I do so pledge," said Sari.

"I do so pledge, said Jazz.

"And Sari, I may be calling on you from time to time for help, with these abilities of yours," said Mainframe.

"I will be glad to assist in any way I can, Mainframe," she replied.

**So, with this new mod, Sari may be called on to be a technorganic intelligence officer from time to time! Thanks for reading.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Jazz gives Sari some well-deserved time off. She decides to spend it getting in touch with friends and family.**

Sari's finally got herself a whole week's break from work! After spending some time puttering around her apartment, she took the opportunity to catch up on some video phone conversations.

First, however, she got a call from Jazz. "Sari, I was just in communication with Optimus. There are some very interesting things being planned back on earth, and they involve you. Give him a call right away, but be sure you communicate on a secure channel."

"Will do, Sensei," Sari replied. "Sari out."

She then put in a call to Optimus at the Autobot Base on Earth.

"Sari, good to hear from you. We're working with Sumdac Systems on a big project; we're going to be installing a permanent station on the far side of the moon, manned by Autobots and humans. I'm putting together a team to work on the first set of buildings and infrastructure, and I want you to assist."

"Sounds exciting, sir! If I may ask, who else is on the team?"

"The assembly team will consist of you, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee. On your return to earth, we'll sit down for a full briefing. Feel free to speak about the project with your father, but make sure you two are communicating securely. See you soon. Optimus out."

"Wow!" thought Sari. A mission! And working with her two best Autobot friends! This is too cool!

* * *

The first person on her list that she was able to reach was her Dad. He was at his desk working, when his video phone rang.

"Incoming phone call from Cybertron – secure channel," said the speaker. Isaac accepted the call and Sari's image popped up on his video display. "Hi Dad!"

"Well! Sari, my dear!" he happily exclaimed. "How good it is to see you! My goodness, it's been a while - I know you've been busy up there. How are things?"

"Things are going really well, Dad! I'm learning so much about my Autobot half. And Jazz is helping me utilize my Cyber-Ninja meditations to develop a good balance between my two sides. We've been spending most of our time helping Dai Atlas repair Master Yoketron's Dojo, and it's really beginning to shape up. I so much enjoy that kind of work."

"How are things in Detroit? I miss my home town!"

"Oh, things here are going well indeed, my Sari. Optimus and the Autobots are helping us develop new systems to protect earth from not only the Decepticons, but from other dangers out there, like rogue asteroids."

"Yes, I was just in communication with Optimus, and he mentioned that to me. That's why I called you on the secure channel."

"Ah, yes. Then you probably know he has some plans for you, Sari," said Isaac. We are planning to build a permanent station on the far side of the moon. It will be a long-range observation laboratory, staffed by a team of humans and Autobots. At our last meeting, we discussed the initial away crew consisting of you, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee, to help build the systems."

"Working with my two buds!" she grinned.

"Yes. You know, Bulkhead is our space bridge expert, and he's already designing the one that will be on 'Farside Beacon One' - that will be the name of the moon station."

"The most efficient development strategy is for the Autobots to assemble the living quarters. Then, after the buildings are complete with breathable air, the humans can come in and work side by side with the Autobots to complete the construction."

"Excellent, Dad - I've got so much to look forward to besides seeing you and Detroit and Burger Bot! Well, I've got a few days off from work, so I'm going to make some other calls down there."

"OK, my Sari. You keep up the good work. I am so proud of you! I can't wait to see you again – I love you, my dear!"

"I love you too, Dad! See you soon!"

"Connection ended" the video phone declared, as Professor Sumdac hung up. "Will see you soon, my Sari!" he said.

"See you soon, Daddy!" Sari said after she hung up.

* * *

Sari's next call was back to the Autobot Base Station. "Better make it on a secure channel again, since Bee's on the project," she thought.

"Autobot Base," answered Bumblebee.

"Hey, Bee!"

"Sar! What's happening, girl? Long time, no talk! How's it going?"

"Going great over here, Bee! I miss you guys! What's new down there?"

"Man, Sar, lots going on. Optimus and your Dad are planning on building a big listening station on the moon. And get this: you, me, and the big guy are gonna build it! Is that cool or what?"

"I was talking with my Dad, and he mentioned it. Bee, that's so exciting! I'm really looking forward to working with you guys! That's why I called you on the secure channel – so we can talk about this stuff," she winked an optic."

"Oh! Uh, yeah! Secure channel – I knew that," Bumblebee cleared his throat.

He recovered and continued. "First, me and Bulkhead will go up there to get things started. We'll fly up on the Ark-32 and build the space bridge. Between transporting all the parts, assembly and testing, Bulkhead says it'll take a couple orbital cycles. Once we've got it up and running, it should be about the time you're due to come back to earth. Then you can teleport up here and help us build the living quarters and the internal systems for the earth crew."

"Sounds good, Bee."

"So how's things on Cybertron? Any run-ins with Sentinel Prime?"

"Ha! Saw him once, but he was too busy with something going on at the Metroplex. I think he gave me a quick glance, but that was about it. Jazz and I have been too busy working with Dai Atlas rebuilding the Cyber-Ninja Dojo."

"How's that going Sar? You're really good at that rebuilding and repairing stuff!"

"I love it Bee! I think there was something in my protoform that destined me for that kind of work. I get so excited seeing things get built, and broken things get fixed."

"Well, you're the mojo-fixer bot, Sar! Me and the big guy are gonna really use your super talents on the moon!"

"Looking forward to it, Bee! Speaking of Bulkhead, is he around?"

"Yeah, I just saw him down the hallway. Hold on." Sari overhears Bumblebee's voice: "Hey, Bulky! C'mon to the video phone! Surprise for ya!"

"What's up?" says Bulkhead. "Oh, a phone call!" He sits down, but all Sari sees is his mid-section. "Hey, Sari! How ya doin'?"

"Doing good, Bulkhead," said Sari. "Move the camera up a bit so I can see you better, though," she chuckled.

"Oh, sorry!" Bulkhead moves the camera up higher to his faceplate. "That better?"

"Much better, thanks," she replied. "Optimus told me about the plans for us to work on the moon. That's great! I can't wait to see you guys and work with you and Bee."

"Me too, Sari! I'm designing the space bridge right now with your Dad. When we're done and you're back on earth you can use it to join us. It'll be great to have the three of us putting the space station together."

"Hey, how's the painting going?" Sari asked.

"Great! I'll show them to you when I get a chance. Thanks for asking. I did a portrait of Bumblebee, but he says it doesn't look like him at all."

"I'll bet it looks terrific, Bulkhead. Would you let me have it? I would love to hang it in my apartment."

"Oh wow! Yeah! Of course you can, Sari!"

"That's a deal! OK, I'd better be going. Got one more phone call to make. You guys give my best to everyone there, OK?"

"Will do, Sari!" said Bulkhead. "See you soon!"

Bumblebee jumped up to the camera and waved. "See ya, Sar!"

"Connection ended" the video phone declared, as Sari ended her phone call.

Even in bot mode, Sari found herself caught up in excitement at the prospects that lay ahead.

* * *

Her last phone call was to Adam.

"Witwicky residence," Adam answered.

"Hey, Adam!" Sari replied.

"Sari! Wow, this is great! I was just thinking about you! How are you doing? How's the Dojo coming along? How's Cybertron?"

Sari laughed. "Hey, one question at a time! I'm doing great! Jazz and I are making terrific progress helping Dai Atlas rebuild the Dojo. In fact, Jazz gave me a whole week off! That's why I'm able to give everyone phone calls. And one of the things I want to do this week is spend some time being a tourist. I want to take pictures of things so I can send it to you and everyone at home."

"Oh wow, that'd be great, Sari! Thanks!" Said Adam.

"So, how's the course work going for you?" she asked.

"So far, so good, Sari," he said. "I'm enjoying all the science classes. Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?" he smiled. "So Sari, you've got your birthday coming up next week. How are you going to celebrate?" Adam asked. "After all, seventeen's a big one!"

"Oh my gosh!" Thought Sari. She'd completely forgotten about that! Truth is, her bot side didn't give much thought to birthdays, since Autobots don't really celebrate them, and except for mourning for Prowl at the Autobot Mausoleum, she had been constantly in bot mode since arriving.

"They don't celebrate birthdays here on Cybertron," she told Adam, "so I guess we'll have to do something long-distance."

"Hey, I have an idea, Sari. Let me talk to your Dad and Optimus. I can plan something down here, and we can all get together on Sumdac Tower. We'll have a party here, and your Dad can call you on his big jumbotron! Talk to Jazz to make sure you have the time off to call us that day. It won't be anywhere near as good as you being with us, but I'll try to make it the next best thing."

"Aw, Adam, you're the sweetest guy I know!" Sari replied.

"No problem – just leave it to me," he said. "So you're going to be a tourist this week? That's really cool! I hope you get a chance to see some neat things on Cybertron. Did you get any suggestions about places to go?"

"Bulkhead always said I should go see Moonbase One. He worked on an energon farm there. And Moonbase Two is a communications facility. I'd like to see that."

"Jazz recommended that I visit Praxus. It's Cybertron's technological and cultural center and occupies a prominent position in Cybertron's political arena."

"That might be all I have time for, especially if I want to be back at my apartment in time for my birthday."

"Sounds great, Sari! I hope you have a great time with your travels. And check back with me or your Dad so we can tell you when to call in for the birthday get together, OK?"

"Will do, Adam. Talk to you soon! Love you!"

"Love you too!"

"Connection ended" the video phone declared, as Sari ended her phone call. "Wow! So many things happening!" Sari thought to herself as she sat back in her chair. "As for now, I'd better start packing for my trip!"

**Some exciting things await Sari on her return to earth in a few months! But are some things in the works for her upcoming birthday as well? We shall see! Thanks for reading.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Sari visits Moonbase One and Two and has some interesting experiences!**

After packing her things, Sari boarded a shuttle with other Autobot tourists and took off for a visit to Cybertron's two moons, Moon Base One and Two. As the shuttle departed, the tour guide gave the group a brief lecture: "Our planet has two moons. Our inner moon, 'Moon Base One', is the larger of the two and has become an industrial center of some renown in the nearby galactic system. Many of our energon farms and processing facilities are located there."

"The outer moon, appropriately named 'Moon Base Two', is a communications and computer facility second to none. There you will find Cybertron's most sophisticated telecommunication systems, and it serves as our primary uplink to other planets and galaxies. Whenever you put through an off-planet call, you are being routed through Moon Base Two."

"So, THAT's where my phone calls are going through," thought Sari.

Luckily, Sari had managed to get a window seat on the shuttle side facing Cybertron, and she was able to click off some awesome photographs of the planet. "These will be terrific to bring home to my friends on earth!" she thought.

From time to time, Sari would put down her camera, sit back and gaze at the awesome view before her: Cybertron's steel-grey exo-surface plains with its integrated circuit-like roads; spider-like connecting spans bridging deep, cavernous openings that dropped down towards the planetary core; structures coming from deep within and reaching out of the caverns. However, its most striking feature had to be the sagittal, spire-like structures jutting out from the exo-surface and reaching miles out into space. "Pointier than most planets" she nodded.

The shuttle approached Moon Base One, and began to orbit around its circumference. Sari snapped off some more photos. Cybertron's inner moon is completely sheathed in a semi-lustrous blue-gray metal, with several huge "craters" positioned around its equator. Like Cybertron, Moon Base One also has spires reaching out into space, though they are fewer in number. "Nobody on the surface; I guess they're all inside," she thought.

The welcoming station was located at the moon's north pole, inside the largest of the spires. As the shuttle approached, Sari could see that the spire itself was four-sided, not rounded, and each surface contained thousands of brightly-lit windows. Portals were regularly spaced around, with flashing signal beams outlining the entrances like Christmas lights. The shuttle approached one of the portals, and as it opened, a gantry slid out to provide a landing surface for the shuttle craft.

"Welcome to the Moon Base One Visitor Center" said the guide, as the shuttle's hatch opened. "The entrance to the welcome center is to your right; there you will find an interactive diorama explaining all the industries and activities that take place here, as well as tram schedules that will take you around the moon. A return shuttle will depart here every two cycles, so feel free to board whenever you wish. Passengers wishing to visit Moon Base Two may do so at the portal located adjacent to this landing station; check the schedule for departure times."

Sari entered the Visitor Center and looked around the diorama. It showed the moon's manufacturing facilities, which in addition to energon, included factories for building star ships, weapons, and maintenance equipment. By far, though, the major enterprise on the moon consisted of the energon farms. "I wonder where Bulkhead worked?" she thought.

Thinking the energon farm might be the most interesting place to visit, Sari boarded a tram headed for what looked to be the largest farm, located at the southern end of the moon.

"Hello there!" said a friendly fembot seated next to Sari. "My name's Endura. I'm going to see a friend of mine; he runs the energon farm down at the southern end."

"Pleased to meet you, Endura, I'm Sari," she said. "I had a friend who worked here on Moon Base One a long time ago, before he joined the Autobot Boot Camp."

"Oh? Maybe my friend knew him; we can ask when we get there. His name's Binnacle."

"My friend's name is Bulkhead. Did you know him?"

"No, but Binnacle's worked here a long time, so he may remember Bulkhead. We'll ask," she responded. "So what do you do, Sari?"

"I'm a Cyber-Ninja student, right now working at rebuilding Master Yoketron's Dojo with my Sensei Jazz," she responded. "I'm also a technorganic."

"Oh, wow!" exclaimed Endura. "I've never met a technorganic before. Where's your other planet?"

"Earth," said Sari. "I'll be going back there in a few Orbital Cycles with my Sensei. How about you, Endura? What do you do?"

"I'm a librarian at the Praxus municipal center," she said.

"Hey, I'm planning to visit Praxus!" said Sari. "Maybe we can get together."

"Sounds good, Sari. Be glad to show you around," Endura replied. "Let me give you my office address."

The tram arrived at the energon farm, and the tourists entered the small welcome center. "I've been here many times before, Sari. If you like, we can bypass the welcome center and I can take you to where I'm meeting Binnacle."

"Sounds great!" she replied, and they walked over to one of the processing plants. Binnacle was up in one of the refineries, where the raw energon was being purified. He saw Endura and waved. When he was free, he came down from his station and greeted the two. "Binnacle, I'd like you to meet Sari. We met on the tram coming over here. She knows someone who used to work on one of the energon farms here on Moon Base One."

"Really? What's his name? I knew lots of bots who worked here."

"His name's Bulkhead," Sari replied.

"Bulky?" Sure! I remember him! Great bot – hard worker! He left to join the Autobot Boot Camp. If I remember," Binnacle stroked his chin, "he tested really high on space bridge technology."

"That's right," Sari said. "He's working on my home planet now, and in a few Orbital Cycles I'll be joining him."

"Well whaddya know about that?" said Binnacle. "When you see him, you tell him I said hi, OK? We all wish him the best here at the energon farm! Good old Bulky!" he chuckled. "Glad he's doin' good."

"So, what do you say, I give you ladies a personal tour of the place? We've put in some new improvements since you were last here, Endura. They've got a new refinement technique that lets us purify the energon even faster."

"What do you think, Sari?"

"I'd love it!" she replied.

"Sounds great, hon," said Endura. "Lead the way!"

So with Binnacle as their guide, Sari got a terrific education in how energon gets developed and refined. Even better, she gained new friends on the way, and had exciting news to tell Bulkhead when she got back to earth!

When the tour was over, Binnacle led them back to the welcome center. "OK ladies, gotta get back to work. Sari, it was very nice meeting you – so glad to meet one of Bulky's friends! Endura, glad you were able to come up - talk to you soon!"

"Talk to you on video phone, hon!" replied Endura. With that, Binnacle gave a wave and headed back to the refinery, yelling at one of the workers "Hey! Watch that mixture there!"

Back at the Moon Base One Visitor Center, Endura got ready to board the Cybertron shuttle. "Sari, I'll be off from work for a couple of solar cycles, so if you're going to be in Praxus, give me a call."

"Sounds good," Sari replied. "I'm going to continue on to Moon Base Two, and then return to Cybertron. I should be in Praxus after that. Will see you then."

"Look forward to seeing you then, Sari. Have fun!" replied Endura, as the shuttle hatch closed.

The shuttle to Moon Base Two departed shortly thereafter, and Sari settled in for the next ride. Moon Base Two was about two-thirds the size of its larger orbiting partner, and differently colored. Whereas Moon Base One was blue-gray, Two was more dullish; it looked like a round hunk of lead floating in space. It also had spires that reached out beyond the exo-surface, but these were fewer in number. "More craters, too," thought Sari.

"No, wait a minute," she realized. Perhaps it was because Moon Base Two was a communications station, or perhaps, after seeing Moon Base One's "craters", it dawned on her that none of them were craters at all – they were in reality enormous radio dishes! "Boy, do I feel dumb!" She told herself.

The guide on board the shuttle confirmed her suspicions. "Moon Base Two, being Cybertron's communications link to other planetary systems, contains our largest radio dishes. In fact, the moon actually has the ability to adjust its roll, yaw and pitch to aim a dish in any direction to whatever distant planetary signal the communications crew desires."

The shuttle landed on Moon Base Two's welcoming station, but no sooner did it land, when one of the station's bots boarded and asked "Is Sari Sumdac here?"

"I'm Sari," she said, wondering what's going on.

"We were told to ask for you; we need your help," said the messenger. "Please come with me. He led her off the shuttle to board one of the moon's official transports.

"We were in contact with the Autobot High Council, and they put us in contact with Jazz, who told us you were visiting the moons," said the messenger as the transport took off. "We checked the manifests and learned you were on this shuttle."

"What's going on?" she asked.

"We've lost control of our thrusters, so we're no longer able to move around to aim our radio dishes. Something's affected our systems. The Council said that you may be able to help us find the source of the problem."

The transport first headed down a long lit corridor. Sari thought they were on a subway system, until the tunnel abruptly ended and she found herself looking out at a brightly lit, cavernous transport nexus. As their transport continued on over a long bridge, Sari looked down and saw thousands of other similar conveyors far below, going in every possible direction, taking workers to various sections of the moon's many communications terminals.

They came to a crossover section where the transport stopped and transformed into an elevator. Down, down, down it went, as it descended miles into the center of Moon Base Two. Every few minutes, Sari could see their transport pass by similar brightly lit nexus points like the first.

Finally, their journey ended. "Welcome to Control Center One," said the messenger. He led her to a small conference room, where in addition to the other bots in attendance, she saw a familiar one.

"Hello, Sari," said Mainframe. "Glad we found you."

"Glad to be able to help," she said. She didn't want to divulge any previous knowledge of working with Mainframe, due to the pledges she and Jazz had made to secrecy. "How may I assist?"

"We seem to have lost control of our thrusters, and are unable to adjust Moon Base Two's roll, yaw and pitch," he explained. The scientists have narrowed it down to a single control system down here in Control Center One, and we would like you to use your mod to try to repair it like you repaired the AE-35 on the Ark-32." Again, no mention was made of her previous classified work.

"Certainly, where should I go?"

"Quorra, please escort Sari to the control area," said Mainframe. The fembot got up from the table and offered Sari a servo. "Please come with me," she said.

"We'd all be very glad if you can help us, Sari," said Quorra as they walked down the corridor. This glitch really has us in a bind. We recently introduced what we thought were some fairly minor enhancements to the system, but for some reason, as soon as it went in, it wound up shutting off the thrusters and we can't get through to them. If you can use your mod to get in and re-enable the thrusters, that would be invaluable. Mainframe says your mod has the ability to 'speak' to the systems."

"Yes, it can," Sari replied. "Let me see what I can do."

Quorra took Sari to the control center, and gave her a seat before the control panel. Sari's digits opened up and the prods penetrated the keyboard. Immediately her optics went from blue/white to all white and she began "seeing" the internal workings of the thruster systems.

Once inside, Sari learned how to arrive at the point in the system where the glitch was occurring. "I can see where your changes are causing the communication breakdown," she told Quorra. "The thruster system refused the changes, and locked down all communications from the inside. I can see a back door. Let me go in and re-open the links, and then I can determine what caused them to lock down in the first place."

Once inside the thruster system, she re-opened the links. "Your changes don't mesh with the original code's interface," Sari explained. "I'm seeing timestamps that do not match."

Quorra checked the system change logs. "It appears the thruster system's designers made last-minute changes and didn't leave documentation," Quorra reasoned. "That might explain what happened."

"I will send out a file with the proper interface designs," said Sari.

"Excellent! Thanks, Sari."

"In the meantime, I am backing out your latest changes, and restoring the previous version. That should re-sync up everything so it will work again."

Sari restored all systems, and began the process of exiting. She returned to the control panel and retracted her prods. Her optics changed back from all white to blue/white, and she sat back in her chair.

"Give the thrusters a try," she said to Quorra, who nodded to the control bots at the console. They tried, and nodded back. "All systems working again," they said.

"Great job, Sari! Thanks!" said Quorra.

"My pleasure, you guys!" she replied.

Afterwards, Mainframe took Sari back up to the welcoming station. On the way up, he said "Once again, Sari, we're deeply appreciative of your assistance. This glitch would have prevented us from reaching some of our planetary neighbors; it would have been very embarrassing, to say the least."

"Well, thank goodness it was a simple fix," Sari replied.

"Sorry to have diverted you from your visit to Moon Base Two. Hope you can come visit again soon."

"I think my next visit as a tourist will be a bit anticlimactic after this one, Mainframe!" Sari winked.

"You got that right, Sari" Mainframe chuckled.

**So what might have been nothing more than a casual "touristy" day out for Sari turned into some interesting times! From meeting some new friends to once again helping avoid some potential Cybertronian disasters! Thanks for reading.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Sari gets a chance to see more about Autobot history and culture.**

Sari arrived at Praxus, and met up with Endura. "So, how was your visit to Moon Base Two?" she asked Sari.

"A little different than I planned," Sari sighed. "I never made it to my tourist destinations. I got diverted to help out with some glitches while there."

"Aw, bummer," said Endura. "You're on vacay, and work interrupts? Well, let's hope today's nothing but fun and relaxation!"

"First, we'll begin with a little learning. Praxus is my home city, and I'd like to take you to our history museum. There's an interesting display in there about how our community got started."

Endura took her to the Praxus Historical Museum. Inside was a moving sidewalk exhibit with several large models depicting the city's history from its beginnings to the present time.

Praxus' earliest history showed a few small structures, scattered over the Cybertronian landscape.

The voiceover explained: "Over 8.7 million years ago, Praxus began life as a flourishing, utopian metropolis, one of the Tri-Peninsular Torus States. Many of its citizens pursued a career as merchants and traders, while others had occupations that supported its city's status as Cybertron's technological and cultural center."

"Reflecting the diversity of its citizens, Praxus developed into a city with varied architectural styles. Not content to be a homogenous 'melting pot', its buildings instead reflected the essence of an all-encompassing tradition, with some bearing the mark of shadowy ancient cultures, whereas others were designed in the spirit of progress."

The moving platform rounded a corner to another display, this one showing a model of the next stage of early Praxus, with its hodgepodge of building styles. One building looked like a pyramid, with a large glowing orb on top that glowed first blue, then orange and then white.

"The orb above this pyramid structure broadcast a greeting in every available Cybertronian language to any alien culture in the universe," the voiceover explained.

Another building in the display looked like a hundred massive, opaque bubbles stacked on top of one another. "That's a weird looking one," said Sari. Endura nodded.

The city's landscape also featured white, blue, brown and golden towers, massive bulbous structures and ziggurats. "Boy, when they talked about diversity, they weren't kidding!" said Sari.

The moving platform curved around to the final display, showing modern Praxus. The audio continued: "The citizens of Praxus live today in graceful, cesium steel apartment towers. The center of the city is occupied by the circular, domed Helix Gardens, and the spired structure of The Assembly, the crown of Praxus's architectural achievements."

After the Praxus Historical Museum, the next stop on the itinerary was to bring Sari to the Helix Gardens. "This is my absolute favorite place in all of Praxus," Endura told her.

From the museum, the gardens was a short walk to the city center. Endura led Sari on a circuitous route, winding round a building corner and making a final turn facing the gardens, so they could take in the full sight from a distance. "There it is," she pointed.

"Wow! Said Sari, as she got her first look.

The Helix Gardens covers 2 hectares and measures 55 meters high, 100 meters wide and 200 meters long. It is enclosed in a series of enormous transparent connected domes. "They look like giant bubbles!" said Sari.

The dome structure is geodesic, and completely self-supporting with no internal structures. The clear connecting panels vary in size, from 3 to 9 meters across, with the largest ones on top.

Each entrance into the garden has an outer portal and an inner portal, separated by a walk and a security station. As Sari and Endura went through the first portal, Sari caused an alarm to go off. A security bot stepped forward.

"Pardon me; our sensors indicate you have one or more mods capable of generating extremely high temperatures. Before entering the garden, you must first watch a short safety video and sign a statement indicating you will refrain from using your mods."

"Of course," said Sari, and went with the security bot into the video area. He turned to Endura and looking back at Sari said, "Your friend is welcome to join you."

"Sure, glad to join" said Endura.

"My apologies," said Sari, as they sat down to watch the video.

"Hey, no worries, Sari. I've never seen this video - who knows, might be interesting."

The security video was not too terribly exciting. It explained how the gardens contain methane gas, its combustibility, and issued dire warnings about discharging a mod of sufficiently high temperature, which would cause the entire structure to catastrophically explode. The video ended with Alpha Trion speaking to the camera: "Remember Autobots, the Helix Gardens is a priceless treasure of Cybertron. It is up to YOU to keep it safe!."

After the video, Sari signed the form, and the two fembots continued on their way into the gardens.

"Oh my gosh!" said Sari as they entered. The Helix Gardens is a place of reflection and beauty. It contains thousands of blue crystals of various cuts, shapes and sizes, which hang suspended in the methane, but the visual impact was only half of the experience.

"Sari, listen," said Endura. As the crystals moved, they "sang" to one another in quiet, soothing sounds that resonated around the gardens. The total experience of shimmering, blue crystals, reflecting lights, and soft, echoing, resonating tonalities is designed to invoke peace and tranquility.

Pathways wound their way all through the gardens, with regularly spaced seating and open areas where bots could sit, absorb the ambience, and quietly meditate. Sari had learned that Prowl was originally from Praxus. "I wonder if he came here as a young bot?" she thought.

"Endura, it's no wonder my Sensei wanted me to visit Praxus. These gardens are the most peaceful, meditative thing I've ever visited," said Sari. "I must come here again."

"I'm so glad you like it Sari. I come here regularly."

They lingered for a while that afternoon, then Sari said, "Endura, today's been a wonderful visit! I'm definitely coming back. I wish I could stay longer, but I've got a long distance get-together that I have to phone into back at my apartment."

"Wait, hold on," Endura said with a smile, holding up a servo. "A long distance - get-together - that you phone into? Sounds intriguing!"

"I know, I know, it's...well, it's hard to explain," said Sari. "A friend on earth arranged it."

"No worries," laughed Endura, "you go have fun!"

"Anyway, I enjoyed today too, Sari! We'll do this again soon. It was great meeting you!" Endura waved goodbye as Sari boarded her shuttle back to Central City.

As Sari rode her shuttle back to her apartment, she thought to herself, "This was one wonderful time off! I am so grateful for all these fantastic experiences; I can't wait to tell everyone about it."

When she got back to her apartment, there was a message from Jazz: "Sari, I have something to tell you, give me a call as soon as you get back."

"Hmm," she thought. "Wonder what THIS is about?" She put in a call to Jazz immediately.

"Sari, glad to hear back from you. Come meet me at the space bridge, and pack some clothes for transforming into human mode."

"Will do, Sensei, Sari out."

She packed some clothes, and headed at once to the space bridge. "Weird! What's up?" she wondered.

As soon as she arrived, Jazz was there to meet her. "Ready to go to earth?" he asked.

"Earth? What's going on?" she asked. "I hope nothing bad! Is my dad OK?"

"Your father's fine," said Jazz. "Nothing bad's going on at all. I hear there's a birthday party going on," said Jazz, with a rare smile on his faceplate.

"No way!" Sari could hardly contain her excitement. "I'm going to earth - for my birthday party? Really?"

"Yes. It was all arranged by Adam. He got the approvals from Optimus and your father," said Jazz.

"Adam!" yelled Sari. "You sweetheart!"

"All set?" asked Jazz.

"Ready!" she said.

"Then let's go."

They jumped into the space bridge, and arrived on the top of Sumdac Tower. "Happy Birthday, Sari!" shouted the crowd.

**What a surprise! Adam outdid himself! The next chapter continues with the party. Thanks for reading.**

**BTW, the next chapter is the final one for this book. The next book will take Sari into the next phase of her career as a technorganic. Where will it take her? We'll see! Still working on its title.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Explanation of how Adam arranged Sari's birthday party, and how he managed to persuade Optimus to grant her leave from Cybertron and use the space bridge to come to earth.****  
**  
After Adam hung up on his video conference with Sari, he began to plan the party.

"How to do this, how to do this?" he thought. "But more to the point, how to make this a blockbuster event?"

He snapped his fingers: what if this was not just a birthday party? What if he could arrange it so she could take the space bridge and join them? "Now, THAT's an idea!" He thought.

However: first things first: the party. "It needs to be on top of Sumdac Tower. Let me get in contact with Professor Sumdac."

Shortly after their first meeting at Detroit College, Adam's parents had thrown a backyard barbeque for the Sumdacs, and being fellow scientists, the three adults had really hit it off. They spent the afternoon discussing the latest developments in engineering, robotics, energy conversion, thermodynamics, you name it! That was fine with Adam and Sari - it left them free to go sit at another table and chat about teenage things.

Adam approached his Dad, who acted as the intermediary and put in a phone call. "Isaac, Adam's got something he'd like to discuss with you. A party he's planning for Sari - do you have time at the office? Great! I'll let him know."

"Adam, he said he'll be glad to talk with you this morning. He'll let his robo secretary know you're coming; just go in and give her your name."

"Super! Thanks, Dad!" Adam finished his breakfast and headed over to Sumdac Tower.

Isaac was very interested in Adam's idea of a party, and liked the idea of having it on top of Sumdac Tower with all the Autobots. "I'll make the arrangements Adam, if you can take care of the party decorations and cake."

"It'll be my pleasure, Professor!" said Adam.

Then, he decided it was time to introduce the big idea: instead of using the jumbotron and having Sari watch the party from Cybertron, what if she was able to use the space bridge to return back to earth for the party?

Isaac's eyes opened wide. A chance to see his beloved Sari in person, sooner than expected? "Oh, wouldn't that be wonderful!" He thought. But then, his practical side interrupted these happy thoughts.

"Well," said Isaac, "That would be a little bit outside my realm of influence, I'm afraid. It would be up to Optimus, and he would have to get the approval of the Autobot High Council. They don't take using the space bridge lightly."

"We also have to take into account whatever training she's currently doing on Cyberton, of course. Might not be able to interrupt that." He thought out loud.

"Although..." Isaac gazed up at the ceiling and tapped his temple thoughtfully. The gears started turning.

Thinking out loud, he said: "I do know that Optimus has always been very approachable regarding human customs and practices. Autobots do not celebrate birthdays."

Professor Sumdac paused and sighed, "Birthdays...ah, my poor Sari - your 8th birthday party. The kids all ditched her, Adam! And Soundwave! What a disaster that turned out to be!" He cast his eyes down and shook his head sadly.

Recovering, he sat back in his chair and said "Hmmm, Optimus was there at the party, and he remembers how sad she felt. You know Adam, that might be advantageous."

The gears started turning again. Sitting forward in his chair and pointing a finger in the air, he said, "And...IF, when we talk about the birthday party...and how important they are to teenage humans - especially a 17th birthday to make up for her disastrous 8th birthday party? Hmmm."

He stopped pondering and looked back at Adam. "Do you think you could talk to Optimus about how beneficial it would be for Sari to be here at the party, in person, with her friends to celebrate her 17th birthday?"

"Oh Professor, I know I can!"

"Alright, then," Isaac clapped his hands. "I have a meeting with him tomorrow at 9:00 here in my office. Be here at 10:00. I will tell him you are coming to discuss a proposal that involves Sari, and that I have agreed it can be very beneficial to her human development. You and I will both talk about the birthday party. Watch for my cues, as I lead into the idea of her using the space bridge to appear in person. I will bring up her 8th birthday party and begin to talk up the healing benefits of this upcoming party, and then I will leave the rest up to you to explain what a 17th birthday party means to human teenagers. We may just convince him."

"Alright - I'll be here!" said Adam.

Adam was walking on air going home. His plan was coming together!

The next morning, he arrived at the Professor's office early. He sat outside and waited until just before 10:00. When the time came, Isaac called him in. Optimus was certainly an imposing figure; Adam had never met him in person – it's quite an experience coming face-to-face with a 30-foot Autobot!

"Pleased to meet you, Optimus Sir!" said Adam.

"Very nice to meet you, Adam. Sari has told me a lot about you," said Optimus. "I understand from Professor Sumdac that you are planning a birthday party for her."

"Yes," Adam sat down at the conference table. "I thought we could have it here at the top of Sumdac Tower." He looked to Isaac for guidance on how to proceed with the conversation.

"And how will Sari join in on the party?" asked Optimus. "She's currently with Jazz on Cybertron."

"That's what we would like to discuss with you, Optimus," said Isaac. "Adam and I have an idea, and we need your guidance on whether or not it would be workable."

"I'm always open to any ideas you may have, Professor," said Optimus. "What did you have in mind?"

"At first, Adam thought of linking Sari up on my jumbotron screen remotely," said Isaac. "And then, I thought back to her 8th birthday party. You may recall what a disaster that was – it was entirely my fault, I admit. The bottom line is, it was a bad childhood experience."

"Well, Adam here had an idea that I think would help heal that." Isaac looked at Optimus, but despite his years of management experience, Autobot reactions are almost impossible to read. Nevertheless, he decided to go for broke.

"What if, Optimus, we permitted Sari to use the space bridge to come join us at her 17th birthday party? Now, I know it's not yet her time to return to earth, but as her father, I think it would be a very good experience for her – sort of a way to make up for her disastrous 8th birthday party?"

Isaac and Adam held their breath and waited for Optimus' response.

"That might be doable," he said. "Of course, I would have to clear it with the Autobot High Council," he replied. "Can you give me some additional reasoning as to why it would be beneficial to Sari to do this?"

"Well," said Isaac, "that is why I wanted to bring Adam here. Having just turned 17, he can do a better job than I of what it means to a teenage human." Isaac then turned to Adam.

Adam explained, "It's the time when you are beginning to fully transition out of childhood into adulthood. Society recognizes this. For example, 17 year olds can join the military; they can start driving a car by themselves; it's a turning point in a human's life."

"I see," said Optimus. "For humans, it's a milestone. But our recommendations might not be enough. I have a suggestion: I'd like to bring Glyph in on this, since she has been studying human cultures and practices. If she agrees, and with her backing, I believe we'd have a better chance of getting the approval of The Council."

"Adam, Professor, let's adjourn, and go over to the Mirror-Manifold II," said Optimus. Glyph is there now, preparing a report for the Autobot Science Guild. I'm sure she'd be very interested in our discussions."

The three left Isaac's office and went over to the airport field where the Ark-32 and the Mirror-Manifold II were stationed. Glyph was in her study. Optimus entered in first.

"Optimus?" said Glyph. "Good to see you again. How may I help you?"

"Hope I'm not interrupting, Glyph. Professor Sumdac is with me, and I brought a friend of Sari's. He motioned for them to come in. This is Adam Witwicky."

"Pleased to meet you, Glyph," said Adam.

"Hello, Adam, Professor. What's this all about?"

"We were discussing an upcoming human ritual for Sari, and were interested in your input," said Optimus. "Her birthday is due in a few days, and Adam here is planning a party for her."

"Oh, how nice! Birthdays are particularly important to young humans," said Glyph. "They represent an important milestone in their growth."

"Less so for older humans, for some reason. I'm still analyzing that – I believe it has to do with approaching the end of their life spans."

"Sari will be turning 17," said Optimus.

"Oh, that's an important one," said Glyph. "Somewhat similar to the 16th, but since it's on the cusp of adulthood, young humans place a particular significance to the 17th."

"We're hoping to let Sari come back to earth so she can join us at her birthday party, and if I can justify it, the Autobot High Council might grant her temporary leave from her training on Cybertron and use of the space bridge."

"I'm going to say that the 17th birthday is an important milestone in human society, and it would be of value to have Sari here to celebrate with us. Do you think you might be able to lend an endorsement to my recommendation?"

"Only if Adam invites me to the party!" she said with a smile. As shy as Glyph is, she had grown fond of humans, and Sari in particular, and was more than willing to help. Besides, it would give her an opportunity to observe the birthday party ritual up close.

"Oh, Glyph, please do come!" said Adam.

"Then it's a deal!"

So all the pieces were set in place. Optimus and Glyph spoke to the Council, who approved Sari's leave and use of the space bridge to attend her party. Optimus contacted Jazz to lay out the plan. Adam, Bulkhead and Bumblebee got all the party decorations set up and a special cake was ordered.

On the day of the party, Adam and his parents, Isaac, and the Autobots assembled on top of Sumdac Tower. Over on Cybertron, Jazz made the arrangements to have Sari meet him at the space bridge.

Everyone on the tower gathered near the landing platform. Behind and above the crowd was a huge banner with "Happy Birthday, Sari!" written in big letters. Under the banner sat her presents. Bulkhead had brought his painting of Bumblebee that he'd promised to give Sari.

Word came in from Jazz: Sari's been contacted! "OK everyone!" shouted Isaac. "She's on her way to the space bridge – get ready!"

"How does my party hat look, Bumblebee?" asked Bulkhead.

"Hard for me to see, big guy. Let me step back a bit." Bee took a few steps back and chuckled. "I think it's supposed to be on top, not the back of your head."

"Oops. Let me adjust it."

"This is very exciting!" said Glyph to Ratchet. "I've never been to a birthday party before. Have you?"

"I was at one once before," said Ratchet, "but it didn't go too well. I'm sure this one will be much better."

Isaac stood by Adam at the head of the group. "Thank you Adam, for arranging this. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!"

"Oh, it's my pleasure, Professor."

Just then, there was a humming sound as the equipment engaged. A huge pulsing blue orb appeared between the twin prongs of the space bridge, and out jumped Jazz and Sari! No sooner did the two land on the platform, when everyone shouted "Happy birthday, Sari!"

Sari was overwhelmed! Everyone cheered and applauded. She transformed her helmet into human mode and broke out into a huge smile. Tears of joy followed. She ran into Adam's arms. "O thank you, Adam, thank you!" Adam was too choked up with emotion to utter anything but "Love...you!"

She went to her dad. "I love you Daddy!"

"Oh, my Sari, my Sari, how I've missed you!" He said.

Her arm around Isaac, Sari waved to the crowd, "Hi, everybody!"

It was a wonderful party!

**Thus we come to the end of "Sari Sumdac, Technorganic Recruit." In the next book, we go with Sari to the beginnings of adulthood, where she acquires her final, full set of mods and capabilities. Well on her way to becoming one of Cybertron's most powerful Cyber-Ninjas, Sari comes to discern her duties and responsibilities as an ambassador for and defender of her two native planets.**


End file.
